Reading VA: Reading Vampire Academy
by jessica.dangerfield.9
Summary: NO COPYRIGHT INFRINGMENT INTENDED- ALL Original Work Still Belongs to a deserving RICHELLE MEAD. ... Set in Spirit Bound. Starts the morning after Dimitri is released but before Church and 'love fades'. The gang gets called in. Who does and doesn't turn up? What happens? And why are they there in the first place?
1. ONE

DPOV  
My door was thrown open by none other than Adrian Ivashkov, the boyfriend of the woman I loved. **Had** loved.

I had no clue what the monster me had done with my emotions that weren't guilt or sorrow... The two emotions the sight of Rose brought to the forefront. Anger and annoyance were another two emotions her actions invoked, but it was directed at myself and what I had done to her.

"What is happening, Lord Ivashkov? Why are you here?" I politely enquired of the royal Moroi.

Rose had chosen him, she needed to stay loyal to the one who'd stayed by her side no matter what I did to her. I wasn't good for her, for Roza... I never had been. Dhampir or Strigoi, I had never treated Rose the way she deserved, I chose to hurt her time and again.

"A directive from Lissa and Tatiana. No time to explain. Your guards are waiting."

Ugh. I felt bad for those five. They were wary of me, yet believed. Didn't help they all looked up to the insubordinate, reckless, and infamous Rose Hathaway- Guardian graduate and underling. Not that she'd remain an underling if she got her act together... Another reason I was bad for her, she was shooting down her potential for a shining career if she kept fighting for me... For us.

I followed Ivashkov out my door and through Court. Silently, of course. As much as I wanted to know what was going on, I could sense now wasn't the time to ask and that all would eventually be revealed.

When I was led into a secure building in the back parts of the Palace I was instantly alert. Although I did make sure my body still appeared relaxed. In the building I was met in the foyer by the Princess and the Queen. "Your Majesty Tatiana Ivashkov, and Your Highness Vasilisa Dragomir." I fell to my knees and was instructed to rise moments later.  
"Mr Belikov," Tatiana started and Adrian tried to sneak off. He failed to evade his aunt. "Adrian, I know this is hard for you-"  
"Pfft! It isn't hard when I begged Cousin to bring it to your attention." What. Was. Going. On? "You needed to see. So did they." What? Who? What? I had never felt so confused or lost. Okay, that was new... Newly returned.  
"Regardless, I've always been concerned when it came to that dhampir girl and your fondness of her, also of her dedication to Vasilisa, here." Rose! They were talking about Rose. Oh this was not going to end well. I silently pleaded with the Princess to get me out.  
"I'm sorry, Dimitri. I won't have Rose run again because of one foolish word on your or my part. Adrian has made me realise my sister is less stable than she lets on." They come first, they come first, they come first. I would do anything to try to repay Vasilisa for saving me. "I've been blinded to her and her pain once, I won't do it again. I most certainly won't take all the credit for your miracle restoration." Rose couldn't have done anything! She was dhampir! Vasilisa had wielded the magic and the stake.  
"The Princess and my nephew have enlightened us," ridiculous royal plural, "that you may be the only way to keep Rosemarie Hathaway restrained and somewhat respectful." Tatiana declared.

Oh no. Rose had finally told her best friend, my saviour, who had sold us out to the queen... With Rose's current boyfriend as her accomplice. If I wasn't already in such a dubious position and stripped of my title I would say I was done for.

Tatiana continued, "a challenging collection of days awaits you and a few, choice others. Everything you all require is provided- Moroi and dhampir alike. As for you, Mr Belikov, we worry over how this experience will effect you but Rosemarie is the priority in this exercise. We made an example of her, who only wanted to make an example of you. The current amendment depends and relies on her and her stability. If you refuse to be what balances her and guides her... she can say farewell to mainstream society," her eyes narrowed and I wanted to pale. This was bad, very very very bad. "As can you." The Queen was threatening to remove Rose and me from society, send me home or wherever, if I didn't let Rose into my life. I was practically being ordered into a relationship with the one I would likely send over the edge Tatiana wanted me to save Rose from.  
"Understood, Your Majesty." I nodded my understanding and agreement to the task as well as its outcomes if I failed. The likelihood of failure was high. Extremely high.

The queen promptly and abruptly left. Adrian and Vasilisa led us through to a common room type of space.

The room was spacious but still practical. A low and heavy oak coffee table sat in the middle of the cream plush-pile carpet. A number of love-chairs and single and three-seater lounges were spread around the room, all facing the coffee table. A kitchen, feeder room and two bathrooms sprung off from the main room.

Vasilisa, Adrian, myself and my guards were first to enter apparently. Even so, only one guard had entered the room with us.

My guarding instincts found the pattern of the chairs disconcerting. Just as they should have. A stack of five books was the coffee table's centrepiece and the table was where everyone's attention was to be directed. Therefore, whatever was in those books was for everyone to hear... Whoever 'everyone' turned out to be.

By the tone of the briefing, I could gather those books were going to reveal Rose's past, Rose's thoughts... Of me, of us. Oh boy. I had to wonder if the charm, cabin and Russia were in there. Judging by the size of each book, yes, they were. In detail.

"Take a seat, Belikov," Adrian instructed. I went towards one of the few single-seater's. "No. Absolutely not. You are not avoiding her, Belikov."  
"She's yours, Ivashkov," I tried to rebut. He just shook his head.  
"Honour. I had none from moment one. She's yours, Belikov. She's always been yours. You have to know I've always known she's yours and I actively tried to take her because of the idiotic way you treated her. But her aura for the two weeks between the attack and her birthday? It didn't want to be there without yours around. It's one of the worst things I've seen. Her aura reflected her actions- she retreated into herself and her aura copied, retreating back into itself."  
"She'd and her aura had been glowing immediately after the attack."

After the cabin, Vasilisa. After I took your best friend to bed and now hold her innocence and virtue as a result. Her blood still lingers in my veins after Russia. Months may have passed, but I can still taste and feel her blood in my mouth and veins.

"Belikov, I ended it with your woman just before collecting you. She should be here in two hours. She has to come in last because she doesn't know how to feel about you. She's all yours but an absolute mess right now, man."  
"Dimitri, please. Sit in a love-seat and give her the option to come to you. Your auras are still connected. Please take the step of giving yourself the chance to reconnect with your emotions by reconnecting with her. She is your only way out." That shot me into action. I moved into a love-seat.

Over the following two hours the room started filling. My entire family had been flown out and were the first to enter. That bittersweet reunion had barely calmed when before Guardian Edison Castile entered. He shot me a haughty look to rival Rose's, one that quickly morphed into a look of disappointment and... Betrayal. So. He knew to some extent, too. Clearly. Christian Ozera came in not too long after. Next to enter was Rose's mother... With Abe Mazur. What. The. Heck?! What was zmey doing here? I remembered Rose mention him tailing her around Russia, but what did he have to do with her? Why should that businessman know about Rose's past? Especially if it concerned our illicit and screwed-up romance? Why had he entered with Janine Hathaway? A girl I recognised as human and an Alchemist no less shuffled in behind him. Mia Rinaldi, Rose's ex arch-nemesis, entered next. A girl I'd only met once before entered after- the easily star-struck Jill Mastrano.

Last to enter was Rose, herself. Vasilisa had made sure the last available space was next to me. "Join me, Rose?" I gently and warily offered the spot next to me to an uncharacteristically uncomfortable Rose. "Please?" I retried when she didn't twitch a muscle or bat an eyelash after almost a full minute. Her movements were nearly robotic, stiff and forced, as my ex-student-turned-lover moved to join me.  
"Dimitri," her voice was pained as she sat next to me. "Don't cry," she whispered in my ear before wiping away an escaped tear. Her touch burned my skin and I stared at her in shock. "Let's get this over with," she sighed and turned her attention to the rest of the room. "Not now old man," Rose growled at a clearly-intrigued and calculating zmey.  
"Some respect, please, little girl," the out-there with his dress sense and logic Moroi returned. Rose gave an exasperated sigh.  
"You'll get it from me when you give it to me."  
"Rosemarie!" her mother snapped. Janine then looked between the two who were locked in a silent battle of the wills then sighed. "Incorrigible. Both of you," the older and highly-respected guardian sighed in resignation from her spot beside Ibrahim Mazur. What was their deal? Abe and Janine, Abe and Rose and Abe, Janine and Rose? How were they all interconnected?

"Let's get this show on the road!" Adrian broke the building tension. Everyone murmured their agreement before he continued. "As you can see, we have five books in front of us."  
"My books," Rose spoke in a hushed undertone but everyone could hear, even the Alchemist. "They're of the last twelve months of my life." The young woman who was a seasoned guardian well before graduation shook her head. "Paul? Could you please join me and your uncle?" Rose opened her arms to the ten year old. He nodded, smiled and said "my pleasure, Aunt Roza." He moved then sat on her lap. "Why'd you leave? Without a goodbye?" my nephew looked at Rose with tears in his eyes. "I missed you!" he cried and snuggled into her chest.  
"I had to, Paul. You'll soon know why. I just had to leave," Rose cooed and held Paul until he calmed. As well as herself; I could see her on the verge of tears.

Everyone else in the room was silent throughout the interaction. They'd likely only seen that tenderness come out of Rose when directed at Vasilisa, if they'd seen that side of her at all. I knew better. I'd been the recipient of that tenderness and then some, I'd felt the full power of her innermost tenderness and passion. I should not be thinking of our sex in the cabin right now. I should have better control over my thoughts than I currently did.

"I'll read first," Vika offered when my ex-lover and my nephew had recomposed themselves.  
"Thanks Vika. Are we good?" responded Rose. What? Why weren't they on good terms? I had no clue what was going on. I'd known Rose had spent time in Baia, but didn't really know anything about what had happened.  
"Yes, we're good!" Vika cheered.  
"Alright then, read chapter one of 'Vampire Academy'." Rose then whispered in Paul's ear so low not even I could hear. My nephew laughed, picked up a book from the pile and threw it at his aunt- whom deftly and expertly caught it.

"One..." my littlest sister started. " _I felt her fear before I heard her screams_."

Rose and Liss shared a look I knew all too well... Something had just shot through the bond.

" _Her nightmare pulsed into me, shaking me out of my own dream, which had had something to do with a beach and some hot guy rubbing suntan oil on me_ ," continued Vika.

Rose sent a pointed look my way out of the corner of her eye while the rest of the St Vlad's gang laughed at her. Did that look say she wanted that to be me, or was it to say that it had been me even before she'd met me? Or was it saying she never wanted that to be me?

"Yeah, yeah. I'm a slut, I know. Read Vika!" Rose was getting too wound up already.  
"Not yet, sister," I warned her before turning my attention to the Rose sitting next to me. "Don't listen to them, Rose," I gently advised.

I hoped I didn't sound like her 'zen master' or an ill-timed 'Christmas special'. We locked eyes and something powerful shot between us. She took a breath and moment before nodding and sighing. Her grip on Paul tightened and he directed his aunt to continue. She did after a nod from me.

We received odd looks from those who knew nothing of us and indulgent looks from those who did- Adrian (who was mesmerised by the Alchemist), Vasilisa, Edison, and all my family. That last part surprised me a little. How much time had Rose spent with them and how much of Us had she told them?

"You what?!" Janine screeched. I'd missed a bit in my musings.  
"We had no other choice, Mother," Rose growled. Abe smirked.  
"Atta gal! I can't say I'm happy about it, but..." Abe usually never trailed off like that unless it was a dangling threat. Which this wasn't, he was being wary and hesitant.  
"Yeah. I gathered, zmey. Let the books enlighten the others."  
"Okay, Kiz." He turned to my sister and she paled. "Read Viktoria."

What! Oh. No. Now I connect the dots?! Rose was Ibrahim Mazur's daughter. My entire family paled when they learned Rose was in the familial league with the serpent of a businessman. I had missed another little bit while reflecting on the shared traits between Abe and Rose. The next one always seeming worse- and more obvious- than the previous.

" _Better than sex,_ " gasps went around the room when Vika quoted that. Rose and I didn't gasp since we knew better. We knew I'd been her first, and likely only judging by the look on her face. And Adrian's and Vasilisa's.  
"I've done it once! Once! And it was after this!" she defended. "It's not better. Sex was far better," Rose muttered. I was guessing it was for my benefit. She'd even covered Paul's ears.

" _His tail started twitching_ ," Vika continued quoting but Rose quickly interrupted, clearly having thought of something.  
"Paul," she prompted and patted his back. He stood. Rose did too. Then, astonishingly, grabbed my hand and pulled me towards the kitchen. I let her lead me away since I needed a break from all those judging looks. Just as she did. "Dimitri," she sighed, clearly unsure where to go with whatever she wanted to go with this interaction.  
"You did mean for me to hear that comment, didn't you?" I asked non judgmentally. The last thing she needed right now was judgement from me, for obvious reasons. Her eyes flashed with understanding, she knew exactly what comment I was referring to.  
"You caught that? You actually caught- and took note of- that?" Rose blushed.  
"Rose, we're adults." That only caused her blush to increase. "That is not a night to be ashamed about if it truly is better. Out of all our memories, that is my most powerful. Even with numbed feelings I still know and feel how powerful and special that night was. You, Rose Hathaway, made that night that special for me."  
"I meant it, that was far better." She began to reach up, I knew what she wanted so I picked her up to whisper in my ear. "It's even more powerful than a Strigoi bite." I still felt terrible over doing that to the woman, yet she'd just eased it ever so minutely with how sincerely and seriously she'd admitted that. I could do nothing but stare at her in shock, another rediscovered emotion. "It was. It was so much better because there was life and love, true emotions shared and the physical further powered the moment."  
"What have you done with Rose Hathaway? Best friend, badass and guardian extraordinaire?" I nearly didn't recognise the woman still clinging to me.  
"She's still here. But right now my Comrade is looking at his lovesick Roza."

Oh, that nickname! I didn't know how to respond to that. My body acted before my mind could register. My body was burning from her touch and I needed her, her lips against mine. At their touch, my chest exploded. Everything was unlocked with their meeting while life flowed through and between us. I felt the difference and was overwhelmed by the sensation. All my nerves came alive, and my heart beat faster, harder with all these kinds of kisses had meant before... More importantly my heart hammered with all it meant right now. I was truly forgiven and she had never stopped loving me. I had never stopped loving her, not really, the monster then the guilt had hid it from me.  
"You are clueless, Roza. I love you, you clueless woman," I breathed against her lips when we finally pulled back ever-so slightly.  
"I love you, Dimitri. So much."

We returned to even more curious looks but shrugged them off. We were still going to hide for as long as possible. "Vika, continue please," I directed once Roza was settled.

" _My smile faded,_ " read Vika. I'd seen that Portland dizzy spell from my spot in the trees. I'd also caused those in Russia. " _A warm breeze-unseasonably warm for a Portland fall- played with my hair as I leaned out,_ " continued my sister.

"I saw that," I noted loud enough so only Rose could hear. "You looked stunning and my hand had involuntarily twitched at the sight of your hair," I admitted. It made Rose shiver, though she tried to hide it from the others. As lovely as all her other assets were, that beautiful hair kept my gaze locked on her face. As did her reveal-all eyes.

" _And a man watching me_." Vika had continued reading while I'd been rendering the Rose Hathaway speechless. "This has to be your debut, Dimka!" squealed my sister.  
"Bad form Rose, needing a cat to tip you off," Janine noted.  
"I believe it's ingenious, Guardian Hathaway, given the circumstances," I looked at Rose, who looked at me with understanding eyes.

It hadn't been one of her finer moments, but it hadn't been one of her worst. We'd seen the other at our best and at our worst. This was one of her somewhere in-between moments, one of many we'd shared together. She'd learnt so much, come so far since then and I couldn't not be proud of her.

"Keep reading, Vika," Rose requested.  
Vika continued, " _I jerked back in surprise._ " I'd seen that too, but had been unable to unfreeze. " _A figure stood by a tree in the yard, about thirty feet away, where he could easily see through the window. He was close enough that I probably could have thrown something and hit him._ "  
"Really, Rose?" almost the entire room echoed my question but with various different hidden questions.  
"Situation assessment, even endorphin addled I managed that. Vika read or we'll still be on this chapter come Christmas."  
" _He was certainly close enough that he could have seen what Lissa and I had just done,_ " quoted Vika.  
"I did. I respected and admired it as the first sign of how dedicated you really are," I whispered in her ear.  
" _The shadows covered him so well that even with my heightened sight, I couldn't make out any of his features, save for his hight. He was tall. Really tall. He stood there for just a moment_..." continued my sister.  
"You and your beauty made me freeze, Roza. You made me hesitate," I whispered seriously in her ear but my tone was also slightly husky. Appreciative and respectful, but also slightly lustful.

Rose then just stared at me while a million messages flew between us. A single look had always been powerful and held all the meaning in the world. She was the one my soul called out to even when I didn't want it to. Now all my emotions had been let loose I couldn't stand the thought of losing her, of sending her away- keeping her at arms length. Ignoring her had never worked and now I was back to not wanting to. I didn't want to hide being with her again or any longer, but knew I had to hold out a little while longer. I wanted everyone to know my soul called to hers as hers did to mine, that we were magnetised together by forces bigger than us.

My musings and our eye lock had distracted me from Vika's reading of my Roza's thoughts. The chastising over compulsion use broke me from my reverie.  
"Continue, Vika," Mama was the one who instructed this time.

So that's how they'd escaped in the first place, huh. Rosemarie Hathaway, I will never understand how your mind works even if we are each other's open book.

" _"They won't," I said fiercely. "I won't let them."_ " continued Vika.  
"That worked!" I teased Roza playfully in a hushed voice.  
"Shut. Up!" she responded just as playfully and softly. We returned our attention to Vika's reading.  
" _I made it sound simple. I always did, even though there was nothing simple about being on the run from the people we'd grown up with. We'd been doing it for two years, hiding wherever we could and just trying to finish high school. Our senior year had just started, and living on a college campus had seemed safe. We were so close to freedom._  
" _She said nothing more, and I felt her faith in me surge up once more. This was the way it always had been between us. I was the one who took action, who made sure things happened- sometimes recklessly so_." Vika was interrupted by everyone's murmurs of agreement over my woman's reckless history.  
"Almost always recklessly so, love. But it, clearly, pays off," I commented, making sure my volume was at a level only she could hear. "Your bravery and courage are two of the reasons I love you so much, Roza." It was true.

She was so strong, so brave, so courageous in the face of all she'd been through, all I'd put her through. Rose unleashed her flirty and man-eater smile on me and I felt myself falling even deeper in love with her all over again. She'd constantly unleashed that smile on me in training and I doubted she'd registered doing it. I hadn't been immune to that smile. All because I hadn't been immune to her. She really had no clue what she did to me or any of the males around her.

" _The pursuing footsteps grew louder, closer."_ I tuned back into my sister's reading. Rose, my love, you truly do make me forget a world exists and time passing. Vika continued _, "God, if we could just make it-_  
" _Ten feet from the car, a man stepped directly into our path. We came to a screeching halt, and I jerked Lissa back by her arm. It was_ ** _him_** ,"  
"Oh yeah, it was Him alright- my Him, my man," Rose muttered affectionately.  
"The moment I actually, finally met my woman, my Roza," I returned the affectionate tone in my murmuring. Rose's soft smile told me she caught it, just as I had hoped she would. No one else in the room did.  
" _And under different circumstances- say, when he wasn't holding up our desperate escape- I would have thought he was hot._ " A burst of snickers went through the room at my sister reading my Roza's first impression of me. Even I was sort of stunned by how immediately that thought had formed in her head, but I didn't laugh about it.  
"I still think he's hot!" Rose defended, then turned to me, "you're still hot, Comrade."  
"And you are beautiful, Rose. You were dangerously beautiful then, and deadly beautiful now," I smiled. I knew I didn't need to return it, she hadn't been fishing for a compliment but I felt the others should hear just how beautiful I thought she was.

Abe sent a warning glare my way, it was a 'don't mess with my daughter Belikov, or your head is mine' glare. Janine looked confused. My family sent indulgent looks our way. As did Vasilisa and Eddie. Adrian look like he wanted to gag. Christian looked at Rose and I weirdly. The Alchemist was trying to remain impassive but a soft look was on her face, too. Jill was simply stunned.

"Read, Vika!" Rose laughed off the looks and my sister returned to reading.  
" _Shoulder-length brown hair, tied back in a short ponytail. Dark brown eyes. A long brown coat- a duster, I thought it was called_.  
" _But his hotness was irrelevant now_."  
"Rose, really? You thought that coat of mine you hate is a part of me you find hot?" I whispered in her ear while Vika continued reading in the background.  
"Yeah, yeah, cowboy. And I am kinda missing it right now even though I'm liking the view." Our moment was cut off by comments on Rose's technique of assessing how many guardians we'd had on the retrieval team.  
"We thought you had numerous accomplices," I cautiously explained. "But you, Rose Hathaway, are a one woman army." And don't I know it.  
"I can kick ass, but I'm not a one woman army, Dimitri!" Roza retorted. "Certainly not back then, anyway. Vika, read."  
" _Panicked and not entirely in control of my higher reasoning, I acted out of instinct. I pressed up to Lissa, keeping her behind me and away from the one who appeared to be the leader._ "  
"My alpha," Roza lovingly murmured against my ear. I couldn't believe she still saw me that way. If anything, she is, was and always will be the alpha in this relationship.  
"... _Like I was some rabid animal he was planning to sedate_." Vika continued reading while I owned up to Rose about having been slightly scared of her. And of harming her. " _I don't think he meant to strike that hard-probably just intended to keep me away- but my lack of coordination interfered with my ability to respond... It was going to hurt. A_ ** _lot_** _._  
" _Only it didn't._ "

The people in the room who hadn't been there started guessing at why. Rose and I shared a knowing look.

"Continue please, Vika," Karo instructed.  
" _Just as quickly as he'd blocked me, the man reached out and caught my arm_ ," my hand reached out and grabbed Rose's right forearm while Vika read. Something warm and powerful flowed between that point of contact with my lover, my Roza. Her left hand then moved and covered mine, causing the power between us to increase. " _Embarrassed, I shook my hair so that it fell forward and completely covered my neck. I'd grown it out for precisely this reason_."  
"And it hasn't been cut since because you love it as it is," Rose looked me in the eye as she sexily whispered. Vika had kept reading and everyone else had ignored yet another of our powerful moments.  
"I love you more," I returned, maintaining eye contact.

" _Her words had no effect on me at first, but calming thoughts gradually began to settle in my mind_ ," Vika read and preemptive gasps went around the room. " _Coming across the bond. It wasn't exactly compulsion- she wouldn't use that on me- but it was just as effectual, as was the fact we were hopelessly outnumbered and outclassed. Even I knew struggling would be pointless. The tension left my body, and I sagged in defeat._  
" _Sensing my resignation, the man stepped forward, turning his attention to Lissa. His face was calm. He swept her a bow and managed to look graceful doing it, which surprised me considering his height. "My name is Dimitri Belikov," he said. I could hear a faint Russian accent. "I've come to take you back to St. Vladimir's Academy, Princess."_ And that's it for chapter one," concluded Vika.  
"I hear that accent in my dreams. Have done for a long while now," admitted Rose in a seductive purr only I could hear.


	2. TWO

RPOV  
After Vika had finished reading chapter one of Vampire Academy we took a break.  
The Moroi took turns going to the feeders. Everyone had a bathroom break.  
I checked in on Sydney and introduced her to everyone. Well, I tried to. A starstruck Adrian claimed her attention. Okay then. He was so starstruck he wasn't being a womaniser. He was being so respectful and wary I felt she was safe enough left in his care.

Dimitri pulled me into the kitchen after my parents said a few choice words to me. "Thanks. I needed to get away from those two," I sighed and leaned into his chest. My Dimitri was back. He was still clearly traumatised, but he was back, fully back.  
"I gathered," he chuckled and pulled me closer to him. "I love you. Always have and always will. I can't not love you, Roza."  
"I love you, so much. So, so much." I snuggled into the contact, revelling in the heat and life radiating from him. His scent, his natural and alive scent enveloped me and its familiarity brought me comfort and contentment.  
"Oh, Roza." Dimitri stroked my hair before planting a kiss on the top of my head.  
"Kiss me again?" I looked up with longing in my eyes and on my face. He didn't hesitate to bring our lips together and let all his love and passion flow into me through that heated kiss.

Together, we collected a number and variety of drinks and snacks. After setting them on a couple trays Dimitri pecked my cheek. "I love you, woman." I was wrapped in him.  
"I'm yours, Comrade. I always have been. I can't wait for people to know who my heart beats for," I sighed like the lovesick teenager I was. We picked the trays up, returned to the main room and set them on the coffee table.

"Who's reading next?" I enquired once everyone wasn't quite as hungry, once we were ready to continue.  
"I will," Dimitri volunteered with a smile. It wasn't the half smile, but his full and heart stopping one. Vika threw her brother the book before I could argue one way or another. He opened up, read the first sentence and chuckled.  
"Keep a straight face, Comrade! And read!" I tried being serious and huffing. Promptly failing as I joined in his soft laughter.  
" _My hatred notwithstanding, I had to admit Dimitri Beli-whatever was pretty smart. After they'd carted us off to the airport to and onto the Academy's private jet, he'd taken one look at the two of us whispering and ordered us separated_.  
" _"Don't let them talk to each other," he warned the guardian who escorted me to the back of the plane. "Five minutes together, and they'll come up with an escape plan_."  
" _I shot him a haughty look and stormed off down the aisle. Never mind the fact we_ ** _had_** _been planning escape._ " Dimitri looked at me, "I knew it!" he smirked playfully.  
"How?" I asked and the rest of the room repeated.  
"Open book," his eyes never left mine as he shrugged his shoulders. "You're an open book to me, Rose." Dimitri returned to reading when the others stayed silent, still clearly stunned.

I tuned back in when I heard my lover read " _I'd have to think of something that involved getting past the Academy's magical wards and ten times as many guardians. Yeah. No problem_." The group broke into laughter. Even Liss found my nonchalance and attitude funny. Dimitri simply shot me a look that mirrored his words, "I don't doubt you'd've found a way." Abe cheered on his little girl's attitude and my using his logic.  
"Oh, be quiet!" I snapped playfully. "Read, Dimitri!"

He returned to reading and I returned to being tuned out, simply melting hearing his honey and spice, heartwarming accent and voice. I tuned back in when I sensed his unease. "Comrade?" I asked in worry.  
"I cared, Rose. I cared." I could see he was hurt... on the verge of tears.  
"I was a naïve child. I knew no better, Dimitri. I didn't know you then, all I knew was that you were Academy sent and, back then, anyone from the Academy was a threat we couldn't trust." The group was stunned to silence again.

I gripped his left hand with my right, then tried to take over reading. I wasn't allowed to touch the book. I shook my head playfully and let my resolute soulmate continue. He read through that slip into Lissa's head and back out. I tuned in at the part when he gave me a backhanded compliment. " _"Stupid, but still brave. Why did you even try it?"_ " This time when I gazed at him in response, I gave him an answer.  
"You know why, now," I practically purred. Whoops! Hadn't meant it to come out quite like that. Oh well, the squeeze my hand received from his was worth it. As was his next two whispered words.  
"You. Tease!" he growled playfully under his breath.  
"Read, Belikov!" Abe commanded. Uh oh. What were my parents seeing? How did we look to the others? Dimitri did as instructed.

"So poetic, Rosie Posie!" was Christian's snarky comment regarding my description of campus.  
"Don't call me Rosie Posie, Snarky Sparky! Read, Dimitri!" I was so tempted to kiss his cheek. He continued reading." _"Hey, Comrade."_ " He let out a chuckle. "How did you think of that, Rose?"  
"I honestly dunno. I know it came to mean 'partner'." And so much more. Liss echoed my thoughts through the bond. Those not already in the know thought I meant the word in the guarding sense and suspected nothing. Yet. I hoped. I didn't doubt Abe was probably already coming up with his own theories which were far too close to the truth.  
"Read, Belikov," Mom instructed.  
" _He kept walking and wouldn't look at me. "You want to talk now?"_  
"" _Are you taking us to Kirova?"_  
" _"_ ** _Headmistress_** _Kirova," he corrected. On the other side of him, Lissa shot me a look that said,_ ** _Don't start something_** _._  
" _"Headmistress. Whatever. She's still a self-righteous old bit-"_  
" _My words faded as the guardians led us through a set of doors-straight into the commons. I sighed._  
 _"Were these people_ ** _really_** _so cruel?_ " Dimitri paused reading to answer that question. "No, Rose. I wasn't. I didn't think you deserved that humiliation."  
"Did others?" His look told me there were, and a number at that.  
"A few such as Kirova. Petrov and I didn't, but a quite few guardians thought along the same lines as Kirova. I just hated it was also the most direct path."  
"Enough with the love-fest!" Adrian interrupted. "Read, Belikov!"  
" _There had to be at least a dozen ways to get to Kirova's office, and they were taking us right through the centre of the commons_.  
" _And it was lunch time_." Dimitri continued on, reading out the torture that had been our return to campus and meeting with Kirova. Lissa and Adrian, Christian, Dimitri and I all let out a few choice words and mutterings regarding Victor Dashkov and his two-timing, scheming and evil masterminding. " _"I_ ** _did_** _do my duty!" I shouted, jumping up from my chair._ " Dimitri paused again to look meaningfully at me. "Yes, Rose. You did do your duty." That sparked a furore. Sort of. Abe looked as though he knew what had gone down regarding Lissa being abused by Dashkov, but Mom had to chew him out. Yet again, the love of my life defended my actions. "You'll find out why soon enough, I don't doubt, Guardian Hathaway. But Rose did do what was needed at the time, a time when she saw no other solution."  
"Just read, Comrade," I sighed.  
"Yes ma'am!" he mock saluted playfully before returned his attention to reading. His playfulness caused gasps and laughter to rumble around the room, but his reading soon silenced them. " _Dimitri and Alberta both flinched but left me alone since I wasn't trying to hit anyone. Yet_." On he went without interruption until the book him spoke up for the book me. The only exception was my parents outrage over slamming them. Olena got them to shut up, thankfully and ironically. Maybe I'd get her as my mother-in-law after all. " _"They have a bond." Dimitri's low, accented voice broke the heavy tension, and we all turned toward him. I think Kirova had forgotten he was there, but I hadn't_." A stunned Dimitri faced me and I simply shrugged my shoulders.  
"Keep reading!" I teased and he growled playfully. The rest of the group's presence forgotten for a moment.  
"Hold it! Not quite yet, Belikov!" Mom growled. Dimitri acquiesced to the order. "You two have some explaining to do," her pointed glare moved between us.

That's when I realised our hands were still locked and the space between us was almost non-existent. I was practically snuggled into my soulmate's side. Murmurs of agreement came from those who didn't know- which was basically just Mom, Abe and Mia. So Christian knew, then, huh? I checked with the bond to discover Lissa was just as surprised by that as I was. Hmmm. Interesting. Very interesting. Upon returning to my own head I locked gazes with Dimitri. Time to tell them a little bit. We nodded in unison before facing the group. Oh god. This was scary even if most people knew... A knock on the door interrupted us before we could start.

A fuming Janine opened the door. In walked Alberta. She took one look at the scene before us, smiled at Dimitri and I then scowled at my mother's expression. Mom retreated to her spot next to Abe, and Alberta headed over our way. What was she up to? The tiniest gesture of tipping her head to the side told me to get it over with and sit on my man's lap. So I stood, offered Alberta my spot then Dimitri offered me his spot. I shook the offer away and opted for the more comfortable spot. His lap. Instinctively and subconsciously we entwined, bringing ourselves as close as possible to the other. Now both of my parents started fuming. Well they would have if Alberta hadn't spoken first and shut them down before they could start.

"I'll continue reading," offered Alberta. I handed Vampire Academy over while Dimitri told her where to restart. " _His presence was too powerful to ignore. He still stood against the wall, looking like some sort of cowboy sentry in that ridiculous long coat of his. He looked at me, not Lissa, his dark eyes staring straight through me._ "  
"Always been an open book, Roza, always," muttered my man in my ear.  
"Even I saw that," Alberta noted. " _"Rose knows_..."" And on it went. I didn't tune back in until I heard, " _"Well, that's not what I-"_. Why, Belikov? Why'd you hesitate to take her on?" Alberta asked the question that had been burning in my brain for some time now.  
"A number of reasons. One was that it didn't sit right with me, I hadn't wanted Rose as my opponent in Portland and it still felt wrong labelling her my student. I never doubted she could learn, I doubted whether I could teach."  
"Dimitri Belikov!" I playfully chastised. "You have taught me more than you realise." I tightened my hold around him and pecked his cheek. "So much more than you realise. You're a badass battle god, my badass battle god!" I whispered seductively in his ear. My man's shiver told me he'd caught the double entendre.

The others looked on in awkward silence. Which Alberta soon broke as she continued reading. Everyone made a few comments along the way but I only paid attention to Dimitri, his scent and heartbeat, his breathing and his touch. " _"Fine. I accept."_ Even I had been holding my breath through that, Rose." Alberta commented.  
"Chapter two done!" I cheered.  
"More snacks and another round of refreshments?" Lissa politely asked. Everyone agreed and she pulled Christian to the kitchen. Things between them in that confined space were as they had been between Dimitri and I. Hot and steamy.  
"Get me outta here!" I groaned in Dimitri's ear.  
"Let's go for a walk, Roza," Dimitri offered while rubbing my back.  
"Let's," I hopped off my other half's lap and pulled him up. Everyone was doing their own thing, thank god. Dimitri and I slipped out for a walk along the corridor. Only with him could I handle an enveloping silence that was like this. Comfortable.


	3. THREE

DPOV  
Lissa and Christian hadn't just brought out snacks and drinks. One had clearly remembered it was lunch time for the rest of us. So, they'd thrown together a simple meal that was filling and easy to reheat. Pasta bake.

Hearing and reading Rose's thoughts of the first few hours we'd known each other had been an interesting experience. It gave me a fresh perspective on our relationship.

Said relationship, to my shock, had been discovered even with all our efforts. Of all people to know and not tell us or tell on us, it had to be Petrov. It did and didn't make sense. Janine and Abe had reacted as I'd expected. Completely exploded. And that was just over their assumptions that couldn't be anything close to the reality.

My mother pulled me into the hall after we'd all finished eating.  
"Mama?" I asked curiously and cautiously.  
"You truly love her, don't you?" she enquired.  
"She's my world. Has been from the moment I met her. I can't not love her, Mama." I had no clue where she was heading with this.  
"She's been through a lot, Dimka." Don't I know it, I thought sadly with a heart full of guilt and shame.  
"And she'll go through no more. At least not without me by her side."  
"Good. You will know when the time comes, but make her that promise. Officially. Swear it in front of god." Marry her, in other words.  
"And turn an extraordinary guardian into a housewife?" I questioned. That was what it usually meant in Belikov/ Belikova tradition.  
"No. Even your babushka accepts that Roza is to break tradition and marry you while being the extraordinary guardian you trained her to be. Just take care of and around her, Dimka. Your babushka approves of her, finally. But only just. She and I both are wondering if you are worthy of her." Ouch! That hurt.  
"I'm not. I know I'm not. But she leaves me no option other than loving her, Mama." A look of compassion and love crossed her face.  
"She has travelled the globe for you, Dimka. She is zmey's daughter. Do not underestimate what she had done for you. I have never seen such love as hers for you, I just hope to see you return and appreciate it and her."

We quickly returned to the group. Only for Abe to pull me back outside. Much to Roza's dismay and annoyance. The interaction with zmey was rather uncomfortable but, I swear to god, my Roza was worth it. I warned him he was not going to like what was likely contained inside the books. Then assuring him all my focus was now on Rose, her happiness and that I would forever try to make it up to her for wronging her despite her forgiveness. Abe gave me a warning and a threat, unsurprisingly. What did surprise me, however, was his forgiveness for whatever it was the Strigoi had made me do to Roza. He was a smart, sly, uncouth, roundabout and unrelenting man. Forgiveness certainly isn't a trait one would associate with him. More traits Rose shared with her Moroi father. I understood that forgiveness would later come back as a bargaining chip but was humbled by it nonetheless. I could tell he loved my Roza despite not being in her life until now. I also understood why it had had to be that way.

I took a seat next to Rose and checked with Abe to see if he was okay with it. He'd seen worse already and said as much while he okayed Rose returning to my lap and loving embrace.

"Who's reading next?" Rose asked when we were ready to restart.  
"I will," the Alchemist surprised us all with her confident answer. Sydney I believed her name was. She was now sitting on a love-seat beside Adrian. The one who'd mesmerised Adrian Ivashkov retrieved the book from the coffee table and opened up to chapter three. " _Sending us straight to class after our meeting seemed beyond cruel, but that's exactly what Kirova did. Lissa was led away, and I watched her go, glad the bond would allow me to keep reading her emotional temperature_." A few snarky comments met that. "I think it's a good description, I can understand that. So, go Rose!" Sydney defiantly spoke up. The rest of room quieted and allowed her to continue reading, likely shocked by the human's boldness. " _They actually sent me to one of the guidance counsellors first. He was an ancient Moroi guy, one I remembered from before I'd left. I honestly couldn't believe he was still around. The guy was so freaking old, he should have retired. Or died._ " Sydney continued reading and no one dare interrupt her. She was bold and brave for a human surrounded my creatures she'd been raised to fear and bred disdain. I was entranced by Rose's thought process, detailed descriptions and intriguing opinions. " _Dimitri and Alberta escorted me to the guardian's gym for first period, neither one acknowledging my existence_."  
"I couldn't forget your presence and the power your being holds, my love," I whispered in my Roza's ear. Causing her to shiver.  
" _A lot of female guardians did this._ " I tuned back into Sydney's reading. " _It didn't matter so much for me now, since my neck had no tattoos yet, but I didn't want to ever cut my hair_." Sydney paused and looked pointedly at my Rose. "Did you get marked for Russia?" she asked cautiously.  
"With the damage I did? I'd have nearly no neck left to mark." Sydney then turned towards Abe.  
"I'll see what I can get the guardians to do, Miss Sage," Abe stated. Rose groaned but didn't argue. Kind of.  
"I like hiding those awful reminders."  
"Now you learn," Janine sighed.  
"Mom!" Rose warned.  
"Janie, don't set her off. She's got more kills on her hands than you do." Abe lent backwards and kissed Janine's neck, her marks.

I couldn't help but take a peek at then peck Roza's. I was lucky she let me. The rest of the room looked as though they wanted to hurl at the public display of affection. Especially considering mother and daughter were receiving the same touch which, likely, held the same meaning. You're lethal and traumatised but I love you nonetheless, is what my action tried to covey to Rose. For us it also harked back to the lust charm and her tracing and kissing my marks. She'd done it again in the cabin, just as I had hers.

"Read, please Sage, before the affection the Hathaway's are receiving make me hurl," Adrian gently noted. Sydney nodded then continued.  
" _She and Dimitri didn't say anything and walked along almost like it was any other day. When we arrived, the reaction of my peers indicated it was anything but. They were in the middle of setting up when we entered the gym, and just like in the commons, all eyes fell on me. I couldn't decide if I felt like a rock star or a circus freak_." Everyone was quiet again even though Christian looked like he wanted to contribute a snarky quip or two. " _All right, then. If I was going to be stuck here for a while, I wasn't going to act afraid of them all anymore. Lissa and I had once held this school's respect, and it was time to remind everyone of that. Scanning the staring, openmouthed novices, I looked for a familiar face. Most of them were guys. One caught my eye, and I could barely hold back my grin_.  
" _"Hey Mason, wipe the drool off your face."_ " The St Valdimir's collection turned somber at the mention of their fallen friend. The novice I'd been jealous of had died saving the woman I love. Sydney noticed the change and paused respectfully.  
"Continue, Syd. Please," Roza requested.  
" _"If you're going to think about me naked, do it on your own time."_  
" _A few snorts and snickers broke the awed silence, and Mason Ashford snapped out of his haze, giving me a lopsided smile. With red hair that stuck up everywhere and a smattering of freckles, he was nice-looking, though not exactly hot. He was also one of the funniest guys I knew. We'd been good friends back in the day._ " Again Christian looked like he wanted to comment, as did a few others, but visibly held back at let Sydney continue. " _"This_ ** _is_** _my time, Hathaway. I'm leading today's session."_  
" _"Oh yeah?" I retorted. "Huh. Well, I guess this is a good time to think about me naked, then."_  
" _"It's_ ** _always_** _a good time to think about you naked," added someone nearby, breaking the tension further. Eddie Castile. Another friend of mine._ " Eddie groaned in embarrassment since he now only saw Rose as a sister.  
"I second that opinion, Roza. It is always a good time to think about you naked," I murmured in my lover's ear. Flashes of the cabin and charm flashed through my mind, as did how hard it was to try and ignore the charm flashbacks in the wake of it. Roza blushed and snuggled in further. Sonya was the one to request Sydney to continue reading.  
" _Dimitri shook his head and walked off, muttering something in Russian that didn't sound complimentary_." Sydney looked to me and asked, "what did you say?"  
"You'll be the death of me, incorrigible one." The room broke out into laughter. Even Rose was enjoying finally knowing things I had not realised she'd taken note of.  
" _But as for me..._ " Sydney returned to reading and the room's attention focused back on Roza's story. " _"They're making me take extra practice sessions," I explained. Not that it mattered. I planned on getting Liss and me out of here before these practices really became an issue. "I'll be ready."_ " I wasn't terribly shocked at that.  
"Glad I didn't," Rose spoke. "Someone made them worth my while," Roza eyed me off.  
" _"Extra sessions with who?"_  
" _"That tall guy. Dimitri."_  
" _Mason stopped walking and stared at me. "You're putting in extra time with Belikov?"_  
" _"Yeah, so what?"_ "

I'm glad someone brushed off and ignored my reputation for once. I don't know what would have happened if she'd gone stereotypical hero worship on me.

" _"So the man is a God."_ " So that's where she got it from. Except she'd morphed it into being about the personal rather than professional.  
" _"Exaggerate much?" I asked._  
" _"No, I'm serious..."_ " On it went. I held my Roza closer when Alto's slamming was described and repeated.  
"The first time I knew I really wanted to protect you," I whispered in Rose's ear while Janine fumed over over the familial and general slamming of her and her daughter's guarding techniques. Slightly hypocritical in my opinion, but warranted regardless. "I was boiling inside, Roza. You needed to learn, but that was not the way one teaches you. Even I knew that and I hadn't had a lesson with you yet," I comforted. It worked. A giggle was elicited and it was one of my all-time favourite sounds.

Sydney continued reading. "... _Dimitri fell into step beside me, not looking particularly godlike- unless you counted his godly good looks._ " The room erupted into laughter and groans at that.  
"Really, Roza?" I asked, highly amused.  
"Yeah, I know. The crush had already begun," she softly laughed and sighed contentedly.  
"Continue, Sydney," requested Paul.

Sydney picked up where she left off and silence reigned supreme yet again. " _They hadn't given me a warm and fuzzy mentor._ " Rose couldn't help the snort and giggles that quote invoked.

I hadn't been warm and fuzzy, sure sure. The rest of the crowd minus Rose's parents caught Rose's laughing fit. Even Sydney was in hysterics at the irony. We'd fallen in love despite it all. Totally her non warm and fuzzy mentor.

The Alchemist returned to reading. The next murmurs and comments of annoyance and frustration came about when Victor Daskov reared his ugly head. He'd practically spoon fed Rose the information. He'd made it so blatantly obvious it wasn't. And Rose was kicking herself for it, feeling like a failure. Once I'd calmed her and Christian had calmed Vasilisa, Sydney continued reading.

" _We made our goodbyes, and I finally arrived inside the school. As I did, I felt Lissa's anxiety spike. Ignoring the pain in my legs, I picked up my pace into the commons._  
" _And nearly ran right into her._  
" _She didn't see me, though. Neither did the people standing with her: Aaron and that little doll girl. I stopped and listened, just catching the end of the conversation. The girl leaned towards Lissa, who seemed more stunned than anything else._  
" _"It looks to_ ** _me_** _like it came from a garage sale. I thought a precious Dragomir would have standards." Scorn dripped off the word_ ** _Dragomir_** _._  
" _Grabbing Doll Girl by the shoulder, I jerked her away. She was so light, she stumbled three feet and nearly fell._  
" _"She does have standards," I said, "which is why you're done talking to her."_ " Sydney concluded with, "and that's chapter three. Who says it's time for another refreshments break?" Nods of agreement went around the room.

This time Abe and Janine went to the kitchen and prepared afternoon tea for us. Meanwhile, Mia and Rose reflected and laughed. Christian and Vasilisa snogged it out. Adrian got chatty with Sydney. My family gossiped among themselves. Petrov conversed with me.

Everyone decided to take turns and stretching our legs. Those not in a relationship walked the hallway alone. While the three couples (Abe and Janine, Vasilisa and Christian, Rose and I) walked out as a group after Abe and Janine had brought out light food and drinks. It didn't take the couples long to find a private stretch of wall. And to get hot and steamy, up close and personal, with their significant other.


	4. FOUR

RPOV  
Of course Dimitri and I took the longest to return to the room. We missed that contact. Even wrapped in the other while listening to Sydney reading couldn't compare to this heated and desperate kiss and contact. We both wanted and needed overriding memories, something to wash away the Strigoi taint. Dimitri dared to trail butterfly kisses down from my jaw and over my neck and collar.

We returned once we'd calmed and looked not quite as flustered, or frustrated, as we were. Nobody said anything, thank god.

Food sounded like a marvellous idea. Not just to me but most people in the room. So we ate the afternoon tea Mom and Abe had thrown together for us. Simple, light and delicious... Just what I needed, although I needed Dimitri more.

"Who wants to read chapter four?" Sydney asked when she guessed we were ready to resume.  
"I will," volunteered... My mother. She collected the book from Sydney and opened to the relevant page. " _We didn't have the entire commons attention this time, thank god, but a few passing people had stopped to stare._  
" _"What the hell do you think you're doing?" asked Doll Girl, blue eyes wide and sparkling with fury. Up close now, I was able to get a better look at her. She had the same slim build as most Moroi but not the usual height, which is partly what made her look so young_." Mom kept reading my description and recall of the event. Mom, Abe and Christian couldn't help but make a few side comments along the way.

Those comments returned when Mom went on to read my reflection on the feeding process and my self-chastisement. Some of those statements weren't complimentary, most weren't actually, but a select few were. Olena, Karo and Sonya spoke up. Their experiences and opinions shut the others down when I couldn't. Throughout that drama Dimitri kept kissing my neck- both my marks and where he had bitten as Strigoi. It was a powerful apology and declaration of love for me and acceptance, of both what he had done to me and that I'd let him. In that moment I realised he'd managed to forgive himself a little for what had happened between us while in Russia.

Mom eventually returned to reading. Covering Liss and I exchange timetables, her lack of specialisation and chatterbox Natalie joining us for lunch. The mention of Natalie had mutters and grumbles coming from those of us who knew what had happened. Those in the room who didn't know regarded us questioningly. All they got for a response was spoilers alert and being told to wait. Much to Paul and Zoya's dismay.

" _My eyes lifted from Natalie's face to Jesse zeklos's, just as he passed by our table_." Dimitri growled at the mention of him.  
"Oh, can it, Comrade!" I teasingly chastised in his ear. Confused looks were sent our way. "Spoilers! Keep reading, Mom."  
" _Ah, Jesse. I'd forgotten about him. I liked flirting with Mason and some of the other novices, but Jesse was in an entirely different category. You flirted with the other guys simply for the sake of flirting. You flirted with Jesse in the hopes of getting semi-naked with him. He was a royal Moroi, and he was so hot_ -"  
"Nowhere near as hot as this one here!" I interrupted to make Dimitri feel better. And because my lover had changed my taste in men to one type of man. That type being called Dimitri Belikov. No one else would do for me. I loved him to no end and always would. We'd been through hell and back and would make this work. My comment made the room burst into laughter.  
"You are going to pay for that comment later tonight!" playfully and lustfully growled my man.  
"Bring it!" I challenged playfully. My heart was racing in overtime at the thought of making love to my Dimitri again.

Mom was instructed to continue reading once everyone had settled. Didn't get far before I commented again, noting how Dimitri needed his own warning sign about being his divine good looks. Everyone laughed again.

Mom eventually returned to reading.  
"You are a heartbreaker, Roza," Dimitri murmured in my ear. "Not even I was immune to your charm."  
"You weren't meant to be immune, Comrade. Trust me, I had no clue what was going on until that night. I didn't realise what we were doing, what we were building each training," I softly returned while Mom continued reading and the rest paid attention to her not us.  
" _Lissa and I got to sit together in our shared afternoon classes but didn't do much talking. The stares she'd mentioned certainly did follow us, but I found that the more I talked to people, the more they warmed up. Slowly, gradually, they seemed to remember who we were, and the novelty-though not the intrigue- of our crazy stunt wore off._  
" _Or maybe I should say, they remembered who I was. Because I was the only one doing the talking_."  
Mom was cut off by a chorus of "of course" from the St Vlad's group and I received a peck on the cheek from my cheeky man.  
" _Lissa stared straight ahead, listening but neither acknowledging nor participating in attempts at conversation. I could feel anxiety and sadness pouring out of her_." Mom continued.

She then went on to read my recall of our conversation post classes and pre my training. Dimitri whispered in my ear how he'd guessed at that, wasn't surprised and had eavesdropped. Man, never thought he'd admit to doing something like that. Christian made a few snarky and snide side statements. All of which earned him an elbow to the ribs from Liss.

Then Mom continued to read through Christian and Lissa's first meeting. Which, you guessed it, had been in the attic. Mom also read my recap of Strigoi being made. " _And there were two ways to make a Strigoi. Strigoi could forcibly turn humans, dhampirs,_ " everyone cast Dimitri an apologetic and sympathetic glance, knowing that was what had happened to him.

He shrugged it off and distracted himself by showering me, and my neck and collar, in kisses. Some of those kisses were light and butterfly. But a number were passionate and hungry. I don't doubt they'd leave a mark. My man was being brave enough to leave at least one hickey on my neck after the Strigoi him had fed from the very same spot- leaving me with bite marks. The intensity and his bravery had me wanting to growl and moan in pleasure.

All the while Mom kept reading. " _Or Moroi with a single bite. Moroi tempted by the promise of immortality could become Strigoi by choice if they purposely killed another person while feeding. Doing that was considered dark and twisted, the greatest of all sins, both against the Moroi way of life and nature itself. Moroi who chose this dark path lost their ability to connect with elemental magic and other powers of the world. That was why they could no longer go in the sun._  
" _This is what had happened to Christian's parents. They were Strigoi_." Mom finished.  
"Wow! Dramatic finish!" Christian commented, voice full of snark. He'd long-since accepted what had happened and moved on. What hurt him these days was the society still looked down on him, not the event but rather the outcome and resulting stigma.

I would have retorted but Dimitri was still playing with me, teasing my senses simply with his lips. He was such a private person but this was a dramatic public display of affection, and he'd clearly zoned out, into the world of just us, simply because he was anchoring himself. I was all too happy to be that anchor, that grounding, and to be receiving this much contact in public. What I didn't want people seeing was the overpowering way it was effecting me, lighting me up and turning me on.

"Get a room, Rose and Belikov!" Abe snapped. That broke Dimitri out of his haze.  
"Sorry, Sir." Dimitri apologised to my dad for loving me. Oh, you are one-of-a-kind Dimitri Belikov, one of a kind, and I love you dearly with all my being.  
"Seriously Belikov, get out of here and get it out of your systems." Abe instructed. The room muttered their agreement and Dimitri nodded.  
"Let's go take a nap, Roza," Dimitri whispered suggestively in my ear. I shivered in anticipation and excitement.

Dimitri led me out the door and towards a room marked as his bedroom. I was sandwiched against the locked door the second we were inside.  
"I love you, Roza," murmured Dimitri. His lips met mine. The battle for dominance began and so did the fun.

Layers peeled off and the skin-on-skin contact with my soulmate was indescribable. I loved him and made love to him as he did to me. It felt oh so right with him. It always had no matter how strained things got between us we'd work our way through it. He left me no doubt he loved me and I left him no doubt he was the only one for me.

It had been right to wait. Only he could make it so meaningful. And I didn't want it if it didn't hold the meaning and power it did with him, my Dimitri, my man and my soulmate. I loved him with all my being, and in this moment-in these moments when he let his guard down completely- I knew he did too.


	5. FIVE

DPOV  
How Rose and I ever untangled, dressed and removed ourselves from that room I will never know.

That time we made love it was like the cabin- slow, meaningful and powerful. I had earlier warned her that I was going to push her control later tonight, and I would hold true to it. But it would, just as I'd promised, be later on tonight. Now had been the time to let her know once more just what she meant to me, just how much I loved her and appreciated her. Later tonight would be the same, but I'd let my playful side come out and encourage hers to as well. Later tonight was the time to get creative.

We returned to the common room to find Lissa and Christian escaped. Unlike how I was feeling, Rose didn't look a tiny bit worried by her friend's (and hopefully charge's) absence. She probably knew what was going on thanks to the bond. I clicked when I noticed Abe and Janine were also nowhere to be seen. As was Adrian and Sydney. The first two sets of lovebirds were, clearly, love-birding as Rose and I had done. I would have been concerned Adrian was taking advantage of Sydney but the respectful way he looked at her, spoke to her and approached her was so out of character I realised I had nothing to worry about. Rose's indifference also told me she wasn't worried over her acquaintance's safety around her only just, not even a day old ex-boyfriend. Jill and Eddie were also disappeared. Those two had been eyeballing each other in a similar and familiar way the rest of the pairings in the room had been. So they'd clearly gone for a walk and talk, much like I assumed Adrian was doing with Sydney.

With the room cleared of other couples, Mia, Alberta, Rose and I all conversed with my family. Although nothing was directly said about Rose's time in Russia. Nor was anything after the point in the book mentioned. Even two year old Zoya seemed to realise she couldn't say anything yet.

After what felt like an eternity, everyone had regrouped. Sydney and Adrian surprised everyone by being the last to return. That Alchemist and Moroi were full of surprises... And secrets. Even I could detect the small cheeky smile the young businesswoman wore when she looked at Adrian. Had he really started wooing a human woman about Rose's age who was supposed to hate us? Man! This day was getting weirder, stranger and more interesting by the minute.

"Okay, who wants to read next?" Janine asked.  
"I will," Mama volunteered. Yes, definitely getting stranger by the minute. Rose's mother handed the book over to mine. Mama opened to chapter five and started reading. " _Or rather, they_ ** _had_** _been Strigoi. A regiment of guardians had hunted them down and killed them. If rumours were true, Christian had witnessed it all when he was very young._ "  
"Yes. That rumour is true," bravely stated Christian.  
" _And although he wasn't Strigoi himself, some people thought he wasn't far off, with the way he always wore black and kept to himself_." Mama continued.  
"Ha!" scoffed the Moroi in question. "I'm far from it. I hate those idiots- the Moroi and dhampir who think I think like that and Strigoi!" Christian shot me a sympathetic look.  
"It's fine, Lord Ozera. I hate them now more than ever. They stole what I valued most, my Roza. They ripped her heart into pieces and the nature of being a Strigoi, well... I'd better not be a spoiler," I tried to reassure.

I had managed to forgive myself for what I'd done to Rose, even though that felt like the worst part. But I was still struggling with overwhelming guilt over the hundreds, close to a thousand or more innocent lives I'd taken simply to survive, to exist.

" _Strigoi or not, I didn't trust him_." Mama eventually returned to reading, when all had calmed. " _He was a jerk_ ," Christian shot a glare Rose's way. One she returned, no doubt gleefully. Chalk and cheese those two were, far too similar in their attitude yet both cared for Lissa and, evidently, kept a truce for her sake. " _And I silently screamed at Lissa to get out of there- not that my screaming did much good. Stupid one-way bond_." Liss and Rose had a laugh about that. A number of the others joined in too. " _"What are you doing here?" she asked._  
" _"Taking in the sights, of course. That chair with the tarp on it is particularly lovely this time of year. Over there, we have an old box full of the writings of blessed and crazy St. Vladimir. And let's not forget that beautiful table with no legs in the corner."_  
" _"Whatever." She rolled her eyes and moved towards the door, wanting to leave, but he blocked her way_." Snickers broke out at the mention of perfect Princess Dragomir handing Christian Ozera some Rose Hathaway attitude. " _"Well, what about_ ** _you_** _?" he taunted._ " Mama continued reading through the interaction.

Lissa, Christian and Roza were the main three to comment. Rose and Christian often throwing snark back and forth while Lissa and Rose got their cunning and secretive look on and Christian and Lissa looked at each other all lovey-dovey like. That pair had clearly taken note of Roza's and my behaviour earlier... And right now, because they were copying it.

" _I snapped out of the vision_." This part I remembered clearly, it was the first time I'd been extremely worried over Rose. " _"Rose? Rose?"_  
" _Blinking, I focused on Dimitri's face. He was leaning toward me, his hands gripping my shoulders. I'd stopped walking; we stood in the middle of the quad separating the upper school buildings._  
" _"Are you alright?"_  
" _"I... yeah. I was... I was with Lissa..." I put a hand to my forehead. I had never had such a long or clear experience like that. "I was in her head."_ " Mama then continued on reading that interaction.

My siblings, elder niece, and nephew had great fun trying to figure out what I was really thinking and feeling... Being hopeless and tragic romantics in the process- yes, even Paul was being a romantic like the females around him because he loved his aunt Roza and uncle Dimka. Mama sided with my sisters regarding my then forming feelings towards my Roza. Janine and Abe didn't seem pleased but said nothing. Alberta piped up saying she'd seen that interaction and was already beginning to suspect Rose and I would never manage purely professional. Janine and Abe certainly weren't happy at that admission nor with Alberta siding with Rose and I, letting our feelings develop and not saying a word before now.

Mama resumed reading when the drama passed. She read aloud my first training session with Rose. Vika and number of others pointed out Rose wasn't the only one in our relationship who possessed 'Rose logic'. The whole room, even Mama, Janine and Abe had a good laugh over that. The hopeless romantic musing and speculating returned when Mama read my first post-training conversation with my Roza. When the book conversation's topic turned to psi-hounds muttering about Victor Dashkov returned from those of us who knew his twisted plan. When those who didn't know asked about our bitterness towards him they simply received a spoiler warning.

Mama then returned our attention to the story. She covered Rose's dorm description. And Rose and her own mother had a bonding moment over that " ** _inexcusable_** " email. It wasn't a massive bonding moment, but it was one nonetheless and I was glad Rose was finally getting some semblance of a family connection with her own parents.

After that passed, with a few 'aww's and a number of indulgent looks, Mama returned to reading. A few chuckles and comments were made regarding Rose's second day back at the Academy. The St Valdimir's group laughed at the recall of one of Rose's classroom stunts. Even Vika thought the incident, at least it's recall, was slightly humorous. I simply smiled at my Roza's defiant, headstrong and rebellious attitude. As annoying as it can be for me and others, I wouldn't have her any other way. I'd fallen in love with a young woman whose lack of impulse control mirrored and brought out mine. I still fought for it every moment because of my private nature, but I was now willing to let Rose read me like an open book and force me open when we were in public. The world was going to know we were in love and that fate had left us no choice, that the other left us no option to say no.

My musings had gone on longer that I thought. " _Jesse, in the meantime, was telling me about a party_." Mama read. " _"You've got to slip your leash tonight. We're going up to that spot in the woods around eight thirty. Mark got some weed."_ " That brought about conversation. Rose, Lissa and Eddie all smirked at each other knowingly but Rose's face soon became downcast and had shame and regret written all over it.  
"Did, did you go?" I asked cautiously.  
"No. I didn't. I was still in training with you, you know that."  
"Then why the face?" She'd done far more shameful things than party. Take exhibit B, for bloodwhore for a Strigoi. So why was she ashamed of partying?  
"It harks back to before I knew you, before we ran. You've clearly heard all the party-girl and easy rumours, what I'm surprised didn't get around was a little more dangerous experimenting." The sorrow and shame were oh so clear in her voice.  
"You can tell me Roza, I'm not going to judge, you know that."  
"Well... I may have, sorta, kinda experimented with drugs as well- just like the others." Oh! Oh, Roza, oh, my Roza. A furore erupted around us but Rose and I remained focused on each other. Alberta and Mama dealing with Abe and Janine.  
"You feel like you let me down, don't you?" She nodded, her eyes glistening with tears of shame and regret. My lover buried her head in my chest and silently cried. "Roza, I love you as you are. What's in the past is in the past- just like that mentorship." I tried to soothe. I hadn't really ever been to good at it with Rose, but she always seemed to think I always knew what she wanted to hear.  
"It's got nothing to do with that stupid role!" she snapped halfheartedly through her tears. "It's you and your general high standards and expectations," she sighed, trying to recollect herself. Meanwhile Alberta instructed Mama to return to reading.  
"Roza, love, worse has happened. What matters is what we make of right now, and right now I love you irrespective of what you did as a kid. I will always love you irrespective of your actions before you met me and forgive those while you know me. I love you and nothing will tare us apart anymore, I refuse to be taken away from you my dearest, most precious Roza." Rose had turned me into a romantic. I was good with word efficiency when it came to facts and data, anything guardian related... But expressing my feelings for Roza? There I struggled. No words other than 'I love you' felt right, but that felt too simple and as though it was a massive understatement.

My thoughts were interrupted by Mama. "Chapter five is finished. Shall I cook dinner? Or would someone prefer to read chapter six?" The eventual consensus was a quick break now for basic needs and for everyone to grab a bottle of water from the generally overstocked fridge. Lissa would read chapter six then Mama would prepare dinner. She would want to cook on her own, but my sisters and I knew better than to let her do that for the number of people we had gathered. Meanwhile, Rose would entertain Paul and Zoya, and, by then, Sonya would have already put Nadia down for the night. And Rose was tasked with also watching the monitor that came with the temporary nursery Tatiana, Adrian or Lissa had set up hastily but in advance.


	6. SIX

RPOV  
Our break lasted all of fifteen minutes. This day had been long and eventful. In one day I'd been dumped by the guy who'd supported me while I'd been using him, then the man I'd been preoccupied and completely and utterly in love with stopped ignoring me and we'd gotten together. For real and once and for all. In one day I'd been surrounded by family and friends who were learning of my secrets. With no thanks to previously mentioned ex (who'd moved straight on with Sydney. They shared the same spark Dimitri and I did and I couldn't be happier for both of them), Lissa and Queen Tatiana. My best friend had made an extremely hard decision and it had paid off.

So, we'd all had a long and mentally exhausting day. And it was only going to drag on for another few hours. That being said, it was just how long we had left today- which was one of many because, despite Dimitri caving to Tatiana's orders, we were tasked to read through all books present.

Lissa promptly set to it, reading chapter six had begun. " _As much as Lissa and Christian's meeting bothered me, it gave me an idea the next day._  
" _"Hey, Kirova- er, Ms. Kirova." I stood in the doorway of her office, not having bothered to make an appointment_." That brought about a round of "typical" from the group- including the Belikova's, surprisingly enough- but it was an affectionate muttering. Liss promptly continued. " _She raised her eyes from some paperwork, clearly annoyed to see me_." A chorus of "not surprised" came from the St Vlad's group.  
" _"Yes, Miss Hathaway?"_  
" _"Does my house arrest mean I can't go to church?"_ " That elicited musing on what my ulterior motive was from those who didn't know. Dimitri chuckled and started showering me in kisses again. " _"I beg your pardon?"_  
" _"You said that whenever I'm not in class or practice, I have to stay in the dorm. But what about church on Sundays? I don't thinks it's really fair to keep me away from my religious... um, needs." Or deprive me of another chance- no matter how short and boring- to hang out with Lissa."_

Snarky and or amused comments came from every one. Well, not quite... Abe and my mother weren't terribly impressed. Abe liked how my mind worked like his but didn't appreciate the involvement of religion. My mother held a similar opinion. Dimitri was happy I'd done it, for multiple reasons. Those reasons included spoiler alerts for some in the room.

The room quieted when Lissa continued reading. She covered the rest of that interaction, the religious backstory of the Moroi and dhampir society, the first service back and my conversation with the priest. Without interruption, might I add. Conversation restarted regarding that convo.

I didn't like what Lissa had to cover next. It made me sound like the world's biggest hypocrite. Karma's an absolute bitch sometimes. " _Seeing me stroll over, she turned to me. "Rose, you're never going to believe this."_ " I cringed and the group noticed it. Compassion and reassurance ran through the bond.  
"Spoilers for those who don't know."  
" _"You know Abby Badica? And Xander? Their guardian wants to resign. And marry_ ** _another_** _guardian." Now_ ** _this_** _was exciting gossip. A scandal, actually_."

"That's nothing compared to the scandal the two lovebirds called Rose Hathaway and Dimitri Belikov will cause when society finds out!" teased Mia, lifting my spirit a little.  
"Mmmhmm. I couldn't agree more," Vika added.  
"First there's the ex mentor and student thing," noted Eddie.  
"Then there's both being slated to be my guardians," Liss added to the list.  
"Next there's the restoration thing," Adrian contributed.  
"And staying in the heart of Moroi society," Dimitri spoke up confidently.  
"Yup. You two are an absolute scandal like no other. The world is going to have fun dissecting, scrutinising and slamming your relationship- past and present," Sonya warned, but didn't do so in a way that dampened the mood.  
"You two are perfect together. You always have been an ideal pairing- professional and personal. Even when one made the other a problem."  
"As much as I don't like not having my job, my career, I don't mind when it solves the conflict of interest issue," my man spoke so passionately in favour of putting our personal relationship first. "And I'd happily be my Roza's house-husband and at her command," a huge grin pulled across his face. "A number of people acted as though Rose was the expendable one, when in truth, it was always me. She had the bond, the potential, the power, the focus and the determination. She wanted to be Lissa's guardian, she was always the professional one. I was honoured and humbled to be the last Dragomir's guardian but I never felt worthy, not compared to my Roza. I knew the second I laid eyes on her she was going to be the better guardian and she has proven me right. Repeatedly."

I'd never heard Dimitri bare his heart like that. I had always had to pull it out of him, read him and force him to own up. I was gathering he wanted me to know, and to explain to the others what I meant to him, what I'd always meant to him. The room was stunned to silence by the antisocial god being all lovesick. "I love you Dimitri Belikov, so much," I softly and lovingly declared.

Slowly, everyone came back to life. Lissa returned to the story. " _"Seriously? Are they, like, going to run off together?"_  
" _She nodded. "They're getting a house. Going to get jobs with humans, I guess."_  
" _I glanced at Aaron, who had suddenly turned shy with me there. "How are Abby and Xander dealing with that?"_  
" _"Okay. Embarrassed. They think it's stupid." Then he realised who he was speaking to. "Oh. I didn't mean-"_  
" _"Whatever." I gave him a tight smile. "It is stupid."_ "

"I still think the running off part is stupid, but at least I understand what they were thinking, what all in those cases think," I interrupted to give my changed opinion.  
"Duty versus destiny," voiced Dimitri while gazing meaningfully at me. "The worst bind two guardians can find themselves in. But, if you are determined, you'll find the perfect balance and work to make it work. You'll find a way to have it all even if it means compromising a little on the personal because the dedication to the professional is part of the draw, the connection."

We had found that middle ground even if it had been slightly off-centred. We were determined to make it all work because we'd tried giving up the personal and it had hurt our hearts, thereby impacting our professional performance.

"You found that balance, didn't you? You two started planning post-grad, didn't you? You two had the safety and time provided by the Academy walls to experiment, had the opportunity to learn what you needed to without risking your future shared charge too much. But that came at a cost, didn't it? The Academy gave you two opportunities but there were other restraints which made your situation all the harder and more complex to figure out. Am I right?" astutely observed a compassionate Alberta.  
Dimitri and I wanted to nod numbly. Instead we commented that that would be a spoiler if we answered.

Liss soon restarted reading. The group was silent, listening intently and tiredly. " _Wow. I was stunned. The rebellious part of me loved any story where people "fought the system." Only, in this case, they were fighting_ ** _my_** _system, the one I'd been trained to believe in all my life._  
" _Dhampirs and Moroi had a strange arrangement._ "

On it went. The explaining of that arrangement followed. As did the now rare case of female guardians and the stereotypical 'blood whores' stigma. Each description hit close to home for someone in the room. That kept everyone silent... And Dimitri butterfly kissing and reachable skin that wouldn't be distracting to the others that weren't me. Meanwhile, I played with and studied his hands, fingers and arms. How could they be so deadly? They were lethal to Strigoi and anything living, fatal to my already nearly nonexistent self-control but could be so gentle, tender and reverent. They could, simply in being so gentle, soft, loving and reverent, be fatal to my control. The two were at odds with the other, yet could be performed simultaneously or directly one after the other. Take exhibit A for Academy attack, they'd killed multiple Strigoi to protect me immediately after they'd been so tender while we made love. Those calloused, strong and manly (for lack of a better descriptor) hands, fingers and arms fascinated me.

While I'd been pondering, reflecting and loving, Liss had read through the Mia incident. Liss and Mia had a right good laugh about it. Then my bestie returned to reading out my story.

Dimitri chuckled when he heard I played pool. Then challenged me to a game or two once we'd gotten out of this. "You're on!" I excitedly agreed to the task. Especially because he specifically commented this tournament be strictly between us two lovers who were so evenly matched in everything else.

After that had calmed Liss returned to revealing my secrets. Reading through the rest of the Mason and I beginning to research Vlad and Anna's case. " _They had a bond, I realised. I would have bet everything I owned-which wasn't much-on it. The revelation was astonishing. There were lots of vague stories and myths about how guardians and Moroi 'used to have bonds'. But this was the first I'd ever heard of anyone specific that had it had happened to._  
" _Mason had noticed my startled reaction. "You okay? You look kind of weird."_  
" _I shrugged it off. "Yeah. Fine."_ That's where we leave chapter six." Liss finished.

Olena, Mama as she insisted I call her, moved to the kitchen. We knew what that meant. I moved off Dimitri's lap. He went to help her. Karo told Zoya to come to me, and Paul did without needing to be told. Sonya left to put Nadia down for the night. Karo and Vika joined Dimitri and Mama in the kitchen. Others left to take walk in the hallway. Liss and Christian moved to the kitchen and returned moments later with a variety soft drinks cans and bottles of juice and chocolate milk for Paul and Zoya.

Dinner was served a little under two hours later. That time and dinner truly served as bonding time between everyone present. Even Mom was slowly warming to Mama and Dimitri's family. That was a precious moment and the result was our relationship mending a little more. Dimitri and his family, our family, meant a great deal to me and I wanted Mom to get along with them. They were, for all intents and purposes, my in-laws and homely family.

After dinner, reading chapter seven was discussed. There were many pros and cons, but the Moroi decided they had enough mental stamina and determination to sit through another chapter. Zoya was practically asleep on my knee already, so she was counted out. Karo and Paul debated the issue of Paul staying up. He, being like Dimitri, was okay with doing as told- being sent off to bed with Zoya and Nadia in the kids shared room. But that alone gave Karo cause for pause. She ended up saying Paul could stay up with us... If only as a training exercise since he would graduate to be a guardian in eight years time, not even. My eldest sister in law let me tuck Zoya into bed.

I got the sweetest goodnight and "I love you, Aunty Roza," from Zoya. After reading her a bedtime story I returned to the reading of my own story.

After assuring Karo that Zoya was asleep, I asked "Who's reading next?".

"I am," responded Abe. That just felt wrong. It took 'close' to a new, uncomfortable level. Yuk! I had to hope this wasn't a chapter with intimate moments between me and Dimitri.


	7. SEVEN

DPOV  
" _A couple weeks passed after that, and I soon forgot the Anna thing as life at the Academy wrapped around me_." No one dare interrupt zmey as he read. " _The shock of our return had worn off a little, and we began to fall into a semi-comfortable routine. My days revolved around church, lunch with Lissa, and whatever sort of social life I could scrape together outside of that. Denied any real free time, I didn't have too hard a time staying out of the spotlight, although I did manage to steal a little attention here and there, despite my noble speech about 'coasting through the middle'. I couldn't help it_." No, she couldn't, she had had me focused on her already. " _I liked flirting,_ " and with me before we realised that was what we were doing because it hadn't been in her typical way. " _I liked groups, and I liked making smartass comments in class_.  
" _Her new, incognito role attracted attention simply because it was so different than before we left, back when she'd been so active with royals. Most people let that go, accepting that the Dragomir princess was fading off the social radar and content to run with Natalie and her group."_ Abe continued on, uninterrupted for the most part. _"A routine also developed with Dimitri and me. Mason had been right about him being antisocial_."

Not when it came to my Roza. I was going to have to adapt to a life in the limelight if Rose truly did end up with Lissa to guard. Ugh, that made me slightly uncomfortable but whatever, she was worth it.

" _Dimitri didn't hang out much with other guardians, though it was clear they all respected him. And the more I worked with him, the more I respected him too, though I didn't really understand his training methods. They didn't seem very badass_."

They weren't badass at that stage. But they were vital so she'd be ready for the badass training.

I tuned back in on, " _Three weeks after my return to the Academy, I walked into the gym before school one day and found him sprawled on a mat, reading a Louis L'Amour book_." Uh oh. This day I remembered extremely well. " _Someone had brought in a portable CD player, and while that cheered me up at first, the song coming from it did not: "When Doves Cry" by Prince_."

Abe paused to let the others comment. And muse and speculate over the link between my life and the song. Especially with Roza weaselling her way into my heart.

Eventually Abe took back the spotlight. The room quieted. " _It was embarrassing to know the title, but one of our former housemates had been obsessed with the '80's_." So that's how she had all that material and knowledge to tease me with. " _"Whoa, Dimitri," I said, tossing my bag on the floor. "I realise this is actually a current hit in Eastern Europe right now, but do you think we could maybe listen to something that wasn't recorded before I was born?"_  
" _Only his eyes flicked toward me; the rest of his posture remained the same. "What does it matter to you?"_ "

Y-ouch! That had been harsh of me. I'll be the first to admit to that.

" _"I'm the one who's going to be listening to it. You'll be outside running."_  
" _I made a face as I set my foot up on one of the bars and stretched my hamstrings. All things considered, Dimitri had a good-natured tolerance for my snarkiness_." I actually enjoyed it if or until it turned blatantly disrespectful. " _So long as I didn't slack in my training, he didn't mind my running commentary_."

Of course. It lightened and made my day. Or evening.

Abe continued reading the interaction. I, along with the entire group gathered realised just how teasing and flirty it sounded. It sounded that way because it had been and we'd never realised because it had been a professional topic.

" _He looked at me and didn't blink. "You run."_  
" _I repressed the urge to throw something at him. When I finished my stretches, he told me he'd run with me. That was a first. Maybe running would give me some insight into his killer reputation_." Abe continued reading how the rest of that training played out. A few questions were asked about what I'd found amusing. I answered them.

Then came Natalie and Victor's first test of Lissa's powers, the mind games, started. Well, restarted. The fox incident. Abe let murmurs and disgusted comments interrupt his reading. That incident had my protective instincts regarding Rose at all-time high. I'd always been attached to my Roza, but this was a potent example where it was strengthened.

" _Someone finally realised I was there and ordered Dimitri to take me away, no matter how much I begged them to let me stay with Lissa. He walked me back to the novice's dorm. He didn't speak until we were almost there. "You know something. Something about what happened. Is this what you meant when you told Headmistress Kirova that Lissa was in danger?"_ " She'd always been an open book to me, even if I was a tad slow at understanding sometimes.  
" _"I don't know anything. It's just some sick joke."_  
" _"Do you have any idea who'd do it? Or why?"_ " That brought about grumbles from those who knew. But spoilers weren't given.  
" _I considered this. Before we'd left, it could have been any number of people. That was the way it was when you were popular. People loved you, people hated you. But now? Lissa had faded off to a certain extent. The only person who really and truly despised her was Mia, but Mia seemed to fight her battles with words, not actions. And even if she did decide to do something more aggressive, why do this? She didn't seem like the type. There were a million other ways to get back at a person_." Abe and a few others applauded Roza's logic. Mia and Rose just had a right good laugh over past grievances.  
" _"No." I told him. "No clue."_  
" _"Rose, if you know something, tell me. We're on the same side. We both want to protect her. This is serious."_  
" _I spun around, taking my anger over the fox out on him._  
" _"Yeah, it_ ** _is_** _serious. It's all serious. And you have me doing laps every day when I should be learning to fight and defend her! If you want to help her, teach me something!_ ** _Teach me how to fight_** _."_ "

I'd never forgotten that line. Or her voice and face, her determination when she'd ranted at me. I never wanted to be in her bad books.

" _"I already know how to run away."_  
" _I didn't realise until that moment how badly I wanted to learn, how I wanted to prove myself to him, to Lissa, and to everyone else. The fox incident had made me feel powerless_ ," just as her disappearing from the lodge had made me feel because I didn't have the power to track her and find her, " _and I didn't like that._ " We definitely thought along the same lines. " _I wanted to do something,_ ** _anything_** _._  
" _Dimitri watched my outburst calmly, with no change in his expression. When I finished, he simply beckoned me forward like I hadn't said anything_." She'd said everything. " _"Come on. You're late for practice."_ "

"Yet another dramatic end!" Christian pointed out with a laugh. Yawns went around the room.  
"Let's get some sleep. We've still got a lot more reading to do," noted Abe as he set the book down. Having first dog-eared the start of chapter eight.  
"What time is our wake-up call?" enquired Roza.  
"Whenever Nadia wakes?" suggested Mama. "Around four?" Murmurs of agreement circled the group. It was currently eleven and the dhampirs knew how to handle surviving on a few hours sleep, the Moroi weren't as used to it but agreed to the challenge.

After "good night"s, the group dispersed. Roza and I returned to my room.  
"Now, that playful punishment of yours?" I growled lustfully into my darling Roza's ear while hugging her from behind.  
"Absolutely!" she giggled. Before I could respond or react, my love spun in my arms. My love's lips met mine and I got lost in them.

Maybe I didn't have as much control as I'd thought. And, since meeting my Roza, I'd come to accept I had almost none, that it was a façade. Let's just say we didn't get much proper sleep. Not that we were going to complain when, for so long, we'd fought the need to be that close.


	8. EIGHT

RPOV  
Nadia woke at just past four. Which meant everyone else had to too. Dimitri and I had only barely gotten to sleep before she awoke and was the alarm for everyone else. We were lucky to have slept an hour.

When we walked in the common room the adults started grinning and laughing. Even Mom and Abe, which was a bit disconcerting.  
"You two didn't really sleep, did you?!" laughed Christian. Karo had covered Paul's ears and he covered Zoya's.  
"Do you really wanna know?" I retorted. Dimitri failed at trying to be private and not give us away.  
"Ew! I don't need to know that about my baby brother!" Karo groaned. It gets worse later in the books. I so wanted to say that but that'd be a spoiler.  
"That's my child!" Mom retorted, completely grossed out.  
"Who's having what for breakfast?" asked Mama as a distraction.  
"Blini please, Mama," I requested.  
She smiled fondly, "I thought as much, daughter." Out of the corner of my eye I saw Mom scowl. Apparently Mama caught it too. "As long as Roza is with my son she's my daughter," Mama calmly defended. "Just as Dimka is your son as long as he's with Rose." Dimitri and I shrank back into each other. This is us they're talking about here!  
"Mama, I'll help make breakfast. I wouldn't mind some blini either, it's been so long," ah, Dimitri saves the day already. Now Olena scowled... Then softened as she realised she could use some help and, clearly, wanted to cherish any time she now had with her only son, my man.

They took everyone's requests and moved to the kitchen.  
"I still don't understand why the nickname 'Roza'," Mom commented.  
"It's her name in Russian," Sonya explained.  
"How'd it come about? Who used it first? Dimitri while still at the Academy, or you lot?" she responded.  
Karo looked at me then answered. "Spoilers," she told my mother. Alberta, meanwhile, wore a knowing look. So, my Comrade had let slip that affectionate nickname right in front of her.

Breakfast was delicious. As was always the case with Mama's cooking. I went to say thanks to her after having helped clean the dishes, but she told me Dimitri had specifically requested to and then did cook my breakfast.  
"Well, aren't you just the most loving man in the world," I sexily thanked him. Only to get chastised playfully by Karo for doing that tone and look in front of children.  
Christian scoffed at the statement and display. "What am I! Chopped liver?"  
"Yeah, I know you do similar for your girl," I retorted.  
"She's my woman! My Princess." was his comeback.

"Let's get this show on the road. Who's reading next?" I changed the topic.  
"I will!" Mia cheerily volunteered. She then picked up the book and opened it to the relevant page. " _Burning with anger, I fought harder and better that day than I ever had in any of my classes with the novices. So much so that I finally won my first hand-to-hand pairing, annihilating Shane Reyes. We'd always gotten along, and he took it good-naturedly, applauding my performance, as did a few others._  
" _"The comeback's starting," observed Mason after class._  
" _"So it would seem."_ "

No one was speaking, commenting or interrupting. It was early in the day, and despite having the energy to do so, everyone just wanted to get this over and done with. That's not to say anyone was disinterested, because they were far from it. It was simply that this was a long and laborious process.

I tuned back in to hear, " _Lissa looked as green as the sweater she wore, and I pulled her away before I even finished my food and immediately launched into a string of obscenities about Natalie's social skills_." That brought about a few comments. Even Mia contributed.

Mia soon restarted reading. Covering the rest of that conversation. As soon as Jesse was mentioned and the lead up to the lounge incident comments and questions restarted. Dimitri looked at me lovingly and I suspected he wanted to tell me something but it would be a spoiler if he did.

Mia continued when everyone once again quieted. " _Once animal behaviour started, I pondered the likelihood of Mia being responsible_." That brought about a quip from her and I simply returned with friendly banter. " _From the smug look on her psycho-angel face, she certainly seemed to be enjoying the sensation caused by the bloody fox_." I got a friendly glare from her. All I did in response was shrug my shoulders. " _But that didn't mean she was the culprit, and after observing her over the last couple of weeks, I knew she'd enjoy anything that upset Lissa and me. She didn't need to be the one who had done it._ " She grinned before adding a sarcastic, "Oh thanks!". She returned to reading out the wolves drama she'd stirred up and how the rest of that class played out. The Ralf Sarcozy and Christian commotion included. Christian smirked at the memory of how he defended and protected His Princess. Mia went on. My opinions on the display of affection and how I thought the others would react. Also read out was the post-class conversation with Liss. " _She shot me a look of disgust. "Not everyone thinks and acts like you."_ "

That caused Dimitri to speak up. He refused to let that comment go un-responded to. After all, this was my bond mate insulting his Roza.  
"Roza was already changing, Lissa." he started. "You, of all people, should have known or at least remembered she had a facade in play, that she'd always had a facade in play. My Roza is nothing, nothing, like she lets the world see. From what I've observed, she doesn't even let you fully see her true self." He was trying not to give spoilers.

Lissa took his speech remarkably calmly. She knew he was right, constantly reminding herself not to let it get to her because she could see from his aura that he was defending his lover, his soulmate. She also kept in mind that she knew my romantic past with him. Oh Liss. I told you most of it and in detail but I didn't tell you the exact details of my sordid affair with Strigoi Dimitri.

" _I flinched at the words_." Mia continued when she could. " _Then we noticed Mia was passing by. She hadn't heard the conversation but had caught onto the tone. A snide smile spread across her face_." She went on to read the rest of the interaction. Then the first time I purposely slipped into Liss's head. " _Focusing on her now, I tried to remove the wall. I steadied my breathing and cleared my mind. My thoughts didn't matter, only hers did. I needed to open myself to her and let us connect_.  
" _I'd never done anything like this before; I didn't have the patience for meditation. My need was so strong however, that I forced myself into an intense, focused relaxation. I needed to know what was going on with her, and after a few more moments, my effort paid off._  
" _I was in_." Mia added, "and that's chapter eight."

Christian made another comment on my cliffhangers. Liss and everyone else bar Dimitri and I launched into an intense debate over the ethical and moral side of that action. Lissa, having had enough and wanting to get through another six chapters by ten o'clock tonight, called an end to the discussion. In the polite and well mannered way of a princess without pulling rank.  
"Let's call an end to this discussion. The bond exists for a reason. Rose was simply worried about me. I hope I'm not alone in wanting to complete as many chapters as possible by bedtime tonight. For now though, who wants light refreshments?"

That shut them up quick smart. All agreed to bringing out another round of water and some light snacks. Liss and I were the ones to play hostess' for the meantime.


	9. NINE

DPOV  
"Who's reading next?" Mia asked when everyone was calmed enough to continue.  
"Me," my Roza declared.

Oh boy. I had to hope this chapter didn't have the lounge incident in it. Knowing my luck lately, it would be. Oh this would get interesting if it was, with Roza reading her side of that event and turn in our just-beginning- to-bud relationship and all. I didn't really want her to relive this past year since it had mostly been filled with heartache, heartbreak, pain and trauma. I had to remind myself of her strength, bravery and courage. Especially considering the prospect of one book being all about Russia.

"You sure, love?" I gently asked.  
"Absolutely." She grinned, then smirked, then kissed my cheek. That was my woman for you. " _I snapped into her mind, once again seeing and directly experiencing what went on around her_." my Roza confidently began. " _She was sneaking into the chapel's attic again, confirming my worst fears. Like last time, she met no resistance._ ** _Good God_** _, I thought,_ ** _could that priest be any worse about securing his own chapel?_**  
" _Sunrise lit up the stained-glass windows, and Christian's silhouette was framed against it: he was sitting in the window seat._ "

No one interrupted her. Seeing as this was her story and she was reading it. Everyone was mesmerised, wanting to hear how The Rose Hathaway really thought. They also wanted wanted to get through this as efficiently as possible. I didn't doubt Rose wanted to rip the proverbial bandaid off as quickly as possible.

My musings made me miss a little. So I tuned back in to hear, " _Christian's smug expression dropped, replaced by one of uncharacteristic surprise. Lissa might not be psychic, but she had a startling ability to read people._ "

Rose went on. Continuing to read the recall of the rest of the interaction. And her reactions and opinions at the time.

She continued, " _Then, for reasons I didn't really get, I slammed it shut and threw it against the wall._ " Darkness. It had to be, even back then. " _I spent the rest of the night brooding until the time to meet Jesse came around_." Oh god, here comes the lounge. I was so in for a chastising from Mama over my reaction when Rose read that out. " _He complied to the second, and we found the lounge dark, dusty, and deserted. The drop in guardian numbers over the years meant a lot of the dorm stayed empty, a sad sign for Moroi society but terribly convenient right now_." And yet, I found you and the spark between us ignited. " _He sat down on the couch, and I lay back on it, putting my feet in his lap. I was still annoyed after Lissa and Christian's bizarre attic romance and wanted nothing more than to forget about it for a while._ "

The group was still quiet, listening intently, still intrigued. Rose went on to reveal their conversation about Mia. She scowled but remained quiet. Rose kept reading. " _Sitting up, I moved closer to him and draped a leg over his lap. I wrapped my arms around him, and without further delay, thoughts of Mia disappeared as his testosterone kicked in. He kissed me eagerly-sloppily, even-pushing me_ _against the back of the couch, and I relaxed into what had to be the first enjoyable physical activity I'd had in weeks_."

She paused and stared me down. "Nowhere near as enjoyable as with you, Comrade. God. I love you, Dimitri, I really do," lovingly declared my Roza, my woman and my soulmate. She then proceeded to kiss me. It was one that so was not G-rated. And I was just as guilty as her for shamelessly enjoying it and deepening it. It was Abe's fake cough that brought us back to the world.

" _We kissed like that for a long time_ ," that was an awkward thing to hear after we'd just made a spectacle ourselves. " _And I didn't stop him when he pulled off my shirt_."

She never stopped me removing her clothes. I, as dhampir, never stopped, and never would stop, asking her for permission to let things go all the way.

" _"I'm not having sex," I warned between kisses. I had no intention of losing my virginity on a couch in a lounge_."

That created a discussion. It was evidence she was the polar opposite of the rumours. Those who believed those rumours didn't quite know how to process that information. I thought to myself how lucky I was to be her first and only. And how ironic that being in a rarely used old watch post log cabin on the edge of campus when losing her virginity didn't matter whatsoever. It hadn't mattered to me either. All because she was my focus, the world had been reduced to just us and the powerful emotions being expressed, time, also, had disappeared along with the world and possible consequences if said world found out. Nothing else had mattered but showing her my love.

Rose restarted when everyone else fell silent again, eager to hear how this turned out. " _He paused, thinking about this, and finally decided not to push it. "Okay."_  
" _But he pushed me onto the couch, lying over me, still kissing with the same fierceness. His lips traveled down to my neck, and the sharp points of his fangs brushed against my skin and I couldn't help an excited gasp._  
" _He raised himself up, looking into my face with open surprise. For a moment, I could barely breathe, recalling that rush of pleasure that a vampire bite could fill me with, wondering what it'd be like to feel that while making out_." She found that out with Strigoi me in Russia. " _Then the old taboos kicked in_."

She was more moral than anyone realised... Herself included. She was also very forgiving. At least with me, and I had come to forgive myself for what I had done to her in Russia because she was too precious to lose. She meant everything to me. If she had managed to accept what had happened and managed to move past it because I meant so much to her, then I had to too. I had come to realise I was given a second chance at life and love, so I wasn't going to waste it. I couldn't bear the thought of living without her, with her hating and or resenting me. I had learnt that pushing her away was the worst possible path to pick.

" _Even if we didn't have sex, giving blood while we did_ ** _this_** _was still wrong, still dirty_." Roza turned to my family. "I'm more open minded and less opinionated about this topic now. It's spoilers on the why. I love you guys, my family, and no longer judge."

That had them, and me too quite frankly, on the verge of tears. She was then engulfed in hugs and "love you too"s.

" _"Don't," I warned._ " continued my woman when she and my lot were recomposed.  
" _"You want to." His voice held excited wonder. "I can tell."_ " Damn! After dealing with him, handling Adrian really had been no big deal for her.  
" _"No, I don't."_  
" _His eyes lit up. "You do. How-hey, have you done it before?"_  
" _"No," I scoffed. "Of course not."_  
" _Those gorgeous blue eyes watched me, and I could see the wheels spinning behind them_." Rose looked at me and declared, "your eyes are so much more gorgeous. They are absolutely stunning and lovely because they are so loving."

That caused "aww"s to escape almost everyone bar her parents. They scowled at the mushy scene we were making. I couldn't blame them, we were two badasses who completely melted each other. Not to mention she was still just barely eighteen, so they didn't appreciate the age gap or the roles we'd played while at the Academy. I somehow resisted the urge to kiss her, to really kiss her.

" _Jesse might flirt a lot and have a big mouth, but he wasn't stupid._  
" _"You act like you have. You got excited when I was by your neck."_  
" _"You're a good kisser," I countered, though it wasn't entirely true_."

Once again, Roza took a pause to look at me. "He's absolutely atrocious," she amended. Then continued on with the reading. " _He drooled a little more than I would have preferred. "Don't you think everyone would know if I was giving blood?"_  
" _The realisation seized him. "Unless you weren't doing it before you left. You did it while you were gone, didn't you? You fed Lissa."_  
" _"Of course not," I repeated_.  
" _But he was onto something, and he knew it. "It was the only way. You didn't have feeders. Oh, man."_ "

As much as I was getting aggravated and pissed off by the ass's pushiness with my woman it kept me calm because I knew she was mine. I knew the outcome. I had scared him senseless, not that that changed much... Just the way he treated my Roza, he feared me and my wrath so he stayed away from her.

" _"She found some," I lied. It was the same line we'd fed Natalie, the one she'd spread around and that no one-except Christian- had ever questioned. "Plenty of humans are into it."_  
" _"Sure," he said with a smile. He leaned his mouth to my neck._  
" _"I'm not a blood whore," I snapped, pulling away from him._  
" _"But you_ ** _want_** _to. You like it. All you dhamp girls do." His teeth were on my skin again. Sharp. Wonderful_."

Janine looked ready to snap. But thankfully didn't. She held her tongue while her daughter read.

" _I had a feeling hostility would only make things worse, so I defused the situation with a little teasing. "Stop it," I said gently, running a fingertip over his lips. "I told you, I'm not like that. But if you want something to do with your mouth, I can give you some ideas."_  
" _That peaked his interest. "Yeah? Like wha-?"_ " I'm pretty sure this is where I come in. Oh god. I'm so a goner.  
" _And that was when the door opened_." Gasps of anticipation filled the quiet room.  
" _We sprang apart. I was ready to handle a fellow student or even possibly the matron. What I was not ready for was Dimitri._ " More gasps went around the room.  
" _He burst in the door like he'd expected to find us, and in that horrible moment, with him raging like a storm, I knew why Mason had called him a god. In the blink of an eye, he crossed the room and jerked Jesse up by his shirt, nearly holding the Moroi off the ground._ " The others were so hooked they were hardly breathing.  
" _"What's your name?" barked Dimitri._  
" _"J-Jesse Zeklos, sir."_  
" _"Mr. Zeklos, do you have permission to be in this part of the dorm?"_  
" _"No, sir."_  
 _""Do you know the rules about male and female interactions around here?"_  
" _"Yes, sir."_  
" _"Then I suggest you get out of here as fast as you can before I turn you over to someone who will punish you accordingly. If I ever see you like this again"_ " with my Rose, " _"-Dimitri pointed to where I cowered, half-dressed, on the couch-"_ ** _I_** _will be the one to punish you."_ " For hurting my Rose. " _"And it will hurt. A lot. Do you understand?"_ " Gasps of shock echoed around the room.  
" _Jesse swallowed, eyes wide. None of the bravado he usually showed was there. I guess there was "usually" and then there was being held in the grip of a really ripped, really tall, and really pissed-off Russian guy. "Yes, sir!"_ " Laughter came from around the room. Even Alberta and Rose's parents laughed at that.  
"That's not a normal teacher response!" chuckled Alberta. "That got personal and I bet you didn't yet have a clue why you felt so protective of Rose, so offended by that situation."  
"You're right, Petrov. I had no clue why. My Roza already felt like she was mine to protect." That caused a stir.

" _"Then_ ** _go_** _." Dimitri released him, and, if possible, Jesse got out of there faster than Dimitri had burst in_." The group broke into laughter again, but soon quieted to find out what happened next, the intrigue returned. " _My mentor then turned to me, a dangerous glint in his eyes. He didn't say anything, but the angry, disapproving message came through loud and clear_."

Rose added, "naturally. We have our own language." The group laughed at her comment.

" _And then it shifted_."

Oh god. Here we go. Rose paused dramatically. Causing questions and guesses to erupt from the group. We answered and responded to none, returning to the book to do the talking.

" _It was almost like he'd been taken by surprise, like he'd never noticed me before. Had it been any other guy, I would have said he was checking me out._ " I had and hadn't really realised. " _As it was, he was definitely studying me. Studying my face and body_." Shock and surprise showed on almost everyone's faces, that was what held them back from firing questions and comments our-or really only my- way. " _And I suddenly realised I was only in jeans and a bra- a black bra at that._ "

I was traumatised by that sight. It had burned into my brain and forever changed the way I looked at her.

" _I knew perfectly well that there weren't a lot of girls at this school who looked as good in a bra as I did._ " She looked even better without the bra. " _Even a guy like Dimitri, one who seemed so focused on duty and training and all that, had to appreciate that_."

Didn't I ever. The key word in that sentence was 'seemed', she had started seeing right through me.

" _And, finally, I noticed that a hot flush was spreading over me, and that the look in his eyes was doing more to me than Jesse's kisses had. Dimitri was quiet and distant sometimes_ ," I couldn't be when with her, when with my Roza that was impossible. " _But he also had a dedication and an intensity that I'd never seen in any other person. I wondered how that kind of power and strength translated into... well, sex_."

The group gasped yet again and chatter started. I was stunned to learn that was when her interest in me got so deep.

" _I wondered what it'd be like for him to touch me and-shit!_  
" _What was I thinking? Was I out of my mind? Embarrassed, I covered my feelings with attitude_." Oh no, that line and my lie of a response. " _"You see something you like?" I asked_."  
"Most definitely," I answered truly this time. I had then and most certainly did now.  
" _"Get dressed."_ " she continued, reading my reaction back then. " _The set of his mouth hardened, and whatever he'd just felt was gone. That fierceness sobered me up and made me forget about my own troubling reaction. I immediately pulled my shirt back on, uneasy at seeing his badass side._  
" _"How'd you find me? You following to make sure I don't run away?"_  
" _"Be quiet," he snapped, leaning down so that we were at eye level_."

"I'm sorry, Roza," I interrupted by whispering sincerely in her ear. "I'll make it up to you tonight. I promise, my love." She shivered before bringing me into a quick but passionate kiss.

My Roza went on with reading the what was essentially a blow up. Her reaction to my words back then tugged at my heart. I'd been far too harsh on her, taking out my anger at my then worrisome thoughts on her. It was such a wrong thing to have done to her. I watched my mother, grandmother, and sisters reactions. I also noted Rose's parents responses. I was so in for it. I was going to be tortured by all of them just for that reaction.

" _"We'll start tomorrow."_ " Rose concluded with the statement I'd made. Then added, "another one bites the dust. Let's have morning tea." Everyone agreed.

Once Rose and Mia were in the kitchen, seven pairs of eyes snapped to me. Anger, disappointment and determination shone in all of them. All seven faces they belonged to wore hard looks, their jaws set.  
"Follow us outside, Dimitri Belikov," Babushka instructed. I'm in so much trouble. And it only gets worse until after Roza's first marking. Then things turn even worse when in Russia and up 'til yesterday.

I followed the seven outside. So it began. Disapproval, disappointment and anger were the main feelings expressed and shared by all seven. I deserved the outburst I copped. My Roza was worth whatever they could throw at me.

It ended. Eventually. And we returned to the room. For morning tea, Rose and Mia had prepared snacks and reheated pasta bake. All the dhampirs dug in, hungry, while the Moroi had fed so only needed minimal food. The same range of drinks as yesterday was on offer.


	10. TEN

RPOV  
Not long after morning tea was finished, and Nadia had gone down for her morning nap, did the reading restart.

"Who's reading chapter ten?" I asked.  
"Me!" exclaimed Adrian.

Okay then. I handed over the book and he opened it.  
"" _Excuse me, Mr. Nagy? I can't really concentrate with Lissa and Rose passing notes over there."_  
" _Mia was attempting to distract attention from herself-and her inability to answer Mr. Nagy's question-and it was ruining what had otherwise been a promising day_."

We all listened in silence as Adrian continued. He managed to cover the reading of the note before snickers, laughter and snarky and sarcastic comments broke out.  
When Adrian got to punishing me and Liss, Alberta pointed out to Dimitri the difference in the way the two teachers had handled their respective situations. The others had a right good laugh, which Dimitri and I took in stride.

Dimitri lustfully promised me I'd be paying in pleasure again tonight for slipping and naming him in that note. I all too happily accepted that I'd be getting so-called punishment again because it was doubling as an apology and make up. I had plans for tonight's session, he was going to 'pay' as well. It was all forgiven and in the past. But that didn't mean we couldn't use it as an excuse to have some serious fun making up for what we couldn't have while at the Academy, what Russia had granted yet tainted.

Adrian had restarted reading while I contemplated. That contemplation took up more time than I thought so I had missed a bit by the time I tuned back in. " _I'd refused to let Lissa talk about the similarities between the fox and what happened two years ago. I didn't want to believe the two were connected, and certainly didn't want her to either._  
" _But I hadn't been able to stop thinking about that incident, not only because it was chilling, but because it really did remind me of what had just happened in her room_."

The others not in the know wondered whether or not they had been related. Those in the know simply informed them answering those questions would be spoilers.

Adrian resumed reading when silence engulfed the group. Covering my recount of the incident and revealing a little of Lissa's sex life in the process. Making her shrink in embarrassment.  
" _Then the raven moved._  
" _Lissa gave a small scream and snatched her hand back. We both stared wide-eyed._  
" _The raven flapped its wings, slowly trying to right itself and stand up. When it managed to do so, it turned toward us, fixing Lissa with a look that seemed too intelligent for a bird. Its eyes held hers, and I couldn't read her reaction through the bond. At long last, the raven broke the gaze and lifted into the air, strong wings carrying it away._  
" _Wind stirring the leaves was the only sound left_." Adrian continued on. Covering Ms Karp's reaction.

Next thing that came up was the argument with Mase. His " _"bad taste"_ " comment was met with many hilarious reactions from the group. It had proved true after all. And I fessed up to now being on his side of that comment. In comparison to Dimitri, Jesse was in very poor taste. My man got a massive thrill when I said my taste in men changed to a taste in man, singular, that goes by the label of 'Russian badass battle-god Dimitri Belikov'. Everyone else grinned and laughed. The St Vlad's lot teased me over becoming the one thing they never imagined... Absolutely, completely, utterly and irrevocably lovesick, over my never-truly-been-just-a mentor. At that Mom looked as though she had had enough.

"Mom, can I talk to you? Outside."  
"Sure." She nodded and followed me out into the hallway. "What did you want, Rose?"  
"To get you out of there. You'd never excuse yourself because there is so many Moroi in there."  
She sighed. "You're right."  
"Mom? How are you really handling this?" I asked after a few quiet moments.  
Again my mother sighed before speaking and after a number of emotions played on her face. "I don't really know how to explain it. There's so many things that are wrong about your relationship with him, how it came about."

She took a moment to regather her thoughts and carefully word them. Something neither of us are known for doing. We especially don't think before speaking around each other. Well... We used to be that way, but since the rescue-and, more importantly- since returning from Russia we've been working on that.

"I'm mad when making the same assumptions as everyone else will about your involvement while together at the Academy. Whether or not it was just some fling, something superficial. But then I see the way you two interact, really see it, and I see the connection. I want you happy and he does that. It's so clear, oh so clear." A cheeky smirk split her face. "It's evident in the marks yesterday's and last night's fun made." She stared pointedly and my neck.  
"I know, I know. I'm not going to cover them when it has even more meaning to us than almost anyone else realises."  
"Your father?"  
"Yeah. Spoilers if I let you know now."  
"You and him," she sighed again and shook her head. "There's a force between the two of you that creates an air of wanting the two of you as guarding partners. There always has been... Even if I refused to truly see it over the ski trip. There was and is this instant and cliché 'they're perfect together' moment in the professional sense when you glance at you two while working together. And again now, seeing you two all mushy. You're both badass and the top two of your generation, yet you would never guess it if you randomly walked in on you two in something like this. I guess what I'm trying to say is that it's hard to wrap my head around, challenging my beliefs, and calling into question how well does anybody know you two other than the other."  
"That makes sense. I really do love him, Mom. In spite of the circumstances of how it came about, I truly do love him. We've been through so much together in roughly one year. I can't not love him. And I don't say that lightly because well, you'll find out soon enough."  
"I never should have worried about Adrian, am I right?"  
"No, you shouldn't have."  
"Rose," her mask and guard was completely down now. She was really being a mother right now, making herself vulnerable. "You two were so damn bloody obvious you weren't. I should have realised on Christmas Day. If not then, then over the ski trip.  
"You didn't see him when you went missing. He was, to the rest of us guardians (and likely a number of adult Moroi), for him, a complete mess. He only wanted you back. You were his sole focus. He had to get you back. His composure was almost non-existent."  
"I saw some of it through the bond," I noted. Damn! Spoiler.  
"It's always been you, Rose. I can see that now. His focus has always been you.  
"And as for your first marking, well. That was a dead giveaway too. Only a pair as involved as you two would have that much power shoot between you in such a tiny gesture. You do have your own language and almost no one suspected or asked 'why'. The two of you simply had this connection that seemed as though it was a part of the package deal. It's so natural to the two of you onlookers take it at face value if they even notice.  
"Then in the caves, that was when you were most obvious. And I'm not talking about the breakdown when he was bitten. After him getting through that cave-in... Well... Now I think about it, you may as well have been all over each other." She paused. After thinking for a moment, she said "I just want you happy. I think I'll get used to Belikov being my son-in-law."  
"Thank you, Mom." I quickly hugged my five-nothing mother as a sign of how much that means to me.

We rejoined the group not too much later. We both needed that talk. She needed to say it and talk it through with my ears as the only ones to hear. And I needed to hear her thoughts and reflections, what was going on in her head.

Adrian returned to reading. Finishing with the realisation Mase loved me. " _Jealous, I realised. I could see it in his eyes. How had I never noticed this before? He was crazy about me. I guess I really was oblivious._  
" _"It's alright, Mase. Forget about it." I smiled_."  
"That smile melts hearts, Roza." Dimitri whispered in my ear.  
" _"And thanks for looking that stuff up."_  
" _He smiled back, and I went inside, sad that I didn't feel the same way about him_." Adrian finished.  
"Were you? Were you really?" sarcastically questioned Christian.  
"I was sad for him, I just didn't know that difference yet. Nor had I realised why I didn't." That brought about a round of laughter.  
"You're wrapped in the why!" laughed the St Vlad's lot with a few of the others. Namely Vika, Paul and Sydney.

Once we'd calmed down, Paul asked, "lunch time?" We all answered him in the affirmative, tummies rumbling. Olena and her children left for the kitchen. Yes, Vika and Dimitri joined her again.


	11. ELEVEN

DPOV  
For lunch, we made a massive serving of Cottage Pie, of course we used chopped meat instead of mince. With a side serving of vegetables. It served as the meal... and leftovers... Which was lucky since most of the pasta bake leftovers had been eaten.

"Who's reading the following chapter of Rose's life?" Adrian asked in a smart-ass way.  
"It is my turn," said Babushka in her spooky voice.

Oh god. This was either going to go down really well and in silence. Or it was going to go down miserably and with lots of commentary.

Adrian handed the book over to Yeva. Who opened immediately to the required page. Then started reading as a tense quiet filled the air. She'd already scared everyone silly. But I had to wonder if that would last depending on the content of the chapter. " _"You need something to wear?" Lissa asked._  
" _"Hmm?"_  
" _I glanced over at her. We were waiting for Mr. Nagy's Slavic art class to start, and I was preoccupied with listening to Mia adamantly deny the claims about her parents to one of her friends_."

A look shot between the ex-enemies. That look said all was forgiven. And that Mia was now proud of and content with her parentage.

"... _I dug through my bag, messily looking for my lip gloss. I made a face when I found it. It was almost empty; I didn't know where I was going to score some more_." Yeva continued.

My Roza looked meaningfully at me. She brought us into a quick kiss. I had kept her in supply. And I always would. As nice as that gloss tasted on her lips, her natural taste was much more addictive and attractive.

" _We had an assembly tonight. It was November 1, All Saints' Day-which also meant we'd been back almost a month now_." Everyone was still listening respectfully to the scary older Russian woman... who happened to be my grandmother. " _A royal group was visiting the school, including Queen Tatiana herself. Honestly, that wasn't what excited me. She'd visited the Academy before. It was pretty common and a lot less cool than it sounded. Besides, after living among humans and elected leaders,_ " uh oh. This was a controversial opinion coming up. One I shared with her. " _I didn't think much of stiff royals. Still, I'd gotten permission to go because everyone else would be there_."  
"Not really. I begged for you to get a break, and a fair go," I whispered in my Roza's ear.  
Yeva kept reading. " _A little freedom was definitely worth the pain of sitting through a few boring speeches._  
 _"I didn't stay to chat with Lissa after school like I usually did._ "

I knew where this was heading. This was the training I'd held her pinned for far too long afterwards. Well, not long enough in personal terms but far too long in professional terms.

" _When I arrived at the gym, I noticed he was wearing a T-shirt and loose running pants, as opposed to his usual jeans. It was a good look for him. Really good._ ** _Stop looking_** _, I immediately told myself._ "

Yeva paused. Laughter and snickers filled the air. Comments were made. And Rose refused to look guilty or apologise. Quite the opposite. My Roza wore a proud and shameless grin. I was hers and she was mine... And she knew it! God. I loved the woman.

Babushka restarted and everyone quieted. Still scared. And rightly so. She covered how that training ended. Then came that moment of guilty pleasure. " _He walked off ahead of me. Studying him carefully, I realised I couldn't let the opportunity go by_."

Everyone was hooked. Completely intrigued. Wondering how this would play out.

" _I leapt at his back, positioning myself exactly the way he'd taught me. I had the element of surprise_." You would have, I mentally corrected in amusement at the memory. " _Everything was perfect, and he wouldn't even see me coming_." I would have sensed it, even without the battle cry.  
" _Before I could make contact, he spun around at ridiculously high speed. In one deft motion, he grabbed me like I weighed nothing and threw me to the ground, pinning me there._ " And I should have picked us straight up if we'd been any normal student-teacher pair.  
" _I groaned. "I didn't do anything wrong!"_  
" _His eyes looked levelly into mine as he held my wrists, but he didn't look as serious as he had during the lesson. He seemed to find this funny_." She had been amusing and adorable. " _"The battle cry sort of gave you away. Try not to yell next time_."  
" _"Would it have made a difference if I'd been quiet?"_  
" _He thought about it. "No. Probably not.""_  
"Definitely not," I suggestively corrected in her ear.  
" _I sighed loudly, still in too much of a good mood to really let this disappointment get me down. There were some advantages to having a kick-ass mentor-one who also happened to have a foot of height on me and outweighed me considerably_."

Again with the height. God, she's gorgeous. Everyone was intently listening to her thoughts that had occurred in that moment. I was glad and felt honoured and privileged to actually know what had gone on in her head at that point in time.

" _And that wasn't even considering his strength. He wasn't bulky, but his body had a lot of hard, lean muscle. If I could ever beat_ ** _him_** _, I could beat anyone._ "

Yeva let Rose pipe in. "It turned out to be rather accurate!" cheered Roza. That sparked commentary and conversation.

Which was soon snuffed out when Babushka started reading again. " _All of a sudden, it occurred to me that he was still holding me down. The skin on his fingers was warm as he clutched my wrists. His face hovered inches from my own, and his legs and torso were actually pressing against mine. Some of his long brown hair hung around his face, and he appeared to be noticing me too, almost like he had that night in the lounge. And oh_ ** _God_** _, did he smell good. Breathing became difficult for me, and it had nothing to do with the workout or my lungs being crushed_."

Alberta looked highly amused and entertained by this moment. Rose's thoughts and description of it. As well as by the fact it had even happened. She wasn't alone. Many others shared her reaction. Janine was the only one who wasn't, but that wasn't to say she didn't find it slightly entertaining. Zoya and Paul were the only ones who didn't understand what was going on. They looked completely lost. Understandably.

" _I would have given anything to read his mind right then. Ever since that night in the lounge, I'd noticed him watching me with this same, studious expression_."

Damn! Hadn't expected that she'd caught me out that often. Didn't surprise me now, though.

" _He never actually did it during trainings themselves- those were_ ** _business_** _. But before and after, he would sometimes lighten up just a little, and I'd see him look at me in a way that was almost admiring. And sometimes, if I was really, really lucky, he'd smile at me. A real smile, too-not the dry one that accompanied the sarcasm we tossed around so often. I didn't want to admit it to anyone-not to Lissa, not even to myself- but some days, I lived for those smiles. They lit up his face. "Gorgeous" no longer adequately described him_."

That elicited laughter. As well as accompanying chatter. I knew what was going to happen next.

" _Hoping to appear calm, I tried to think of something professional and guardian-related to say. Instead, I said, "So um... you got any other moves to show me?"_ "

"Certainly," I growled lustfully in her ear. She shivered.

" _His lips twitched, and for a moment, I thought I was going to get one of those smiles. My heart leapt. Then, with visible effort, he pushed the smile back and once more became my tough-love mentor. He shifted off me, leaned back on his heels, and rose. "Come on. We should go."_ "

The intense silence wrapped around the group. Yeva's voice took on an even more eery quality.

Babushka kept reading uninterrupted. Covering Rose's reaction, the banquet and Tatiana's slamming of Lissa. Looks were shared throughout the process, especially while Yeva read Lissa and Roza's argument thing in the garden. And again when Mia was brought into the situation. When book me interrupted my grandmother let laughter and conversation break out. It didn't last long though. Yeva then read the interaction with Christian as we exited to return Rose to her dorm.

" _When we'd gone a little ways, I stole a glance behind me and saw Christian standing just outside the garden. He'd stopped walking and now stood starring down the path that led to Lissa in the courtyard. Shadows covered his face as he thought, and then, after a few moments, he turned around and headed back towards the Moroi dorms._ "

Yeva finished. Only for Christian and Rose to start snapping at each other. They kept it lighthearted and friendly, not revealing a thing. Focusing on reflecting about it and their stupidity. Didn't take long for Liss to step in. Asking about refreshments distracted everyone.

Temporarily. While Liss and Rose were in the kitchen I was interrogated. Not terribly surprised about that. I answered truthfully. But I couldn't tell them everything because a number of questions required spoiler answers.


	12. TWELVE

RPOV  
As soon as everyone grabbed themselves a soft drink or chocolate milk(Paul and Zoya) I asked, "who's next?"  
"Me," stated Eddie, as he picked the book up from the low and heavy, ornate, oak wood coffee table. " _Sleep came reluctantly that night, and I tossed and turned for a long time before finally going under._  
" _An hour or so later, I sat up in bed, trying to relax and and sort out the emotions coming to me_."

Liss registered this as a Dashkov stunt moment. So, she braced herself and snuggled into Christian's side. His arms wrapping around her brought her the sense of comfort, contentment, safety, and-more importantly- love I felt with Dimitri's arms around me. She flashed me a knowing look and smile before snuggling and relaxing further into her boyfriend's embrace. At this moment, she really did not care that she was the last Dragomir Princess and that certain standards of behaviour were expected of her. Especially since this group weren't holding those expectations of her. They were relaxed and down to earth. She felt as though she was being respected as a person and equal first, then as a royal. Just the way she liked it.

"... _Dimitri appeared, fully dressed and alert, though I felt pretty sure we'd pulled him out of bed_." continued Eddie.  
"You did. Right out of a dream of you, my love," Dimitri murmured in my ear.  
"There's that connection again!" Alberta chuckled at whatever had come next. The other's smiles, grins and laughs seemed to say they agreed.

Eddie promptly returned to reading. Covering my description of the time of day. Of course I copped snarky comments from some. Received awed comments from others. And being showered in kisses from Dimitri.

Meanwhile, Eddie returned the group's focus to the story. The others were shocked to silence upon listening to Lissa's plight. Sincere compassionate looks were sent her way. They reassured her. Sent my way, were looks of humility over the humble, caring, yet gently controlling way in which I handled the situation. Humble pride radiated from the present guardians regarding my control over my initial reaction to the sight. I'd seen much, much, much worse since then... Often being the cause of an horrific sight surrounding the killing of a Strigoi. For example, exhibit S for Spokane Strigoi decapitating with a blunt sword. The pale faces in the room paled further at the description of the rabbit. Well... Ex rabbit.

Each time Lissa's concern over Natalie's ability to handle such a sight came up Liss and I muttered. Over that worry being such a waste of time and energy, that it was pointless thanks to the irony. Not that we let on that Natalie had been the culprit slash her dad's accomplice.

When the book of my secrets revealed more secrets within, Liss didn't get mad or upset. Simply because I'd spilled to her already after Russia.

" _And, oh, the lies and the secrets. They ran through the halls and hid in the corners_." Eddie continued. Adding, "like you can speak, Rose! You are just as guilty of hiding in those corners, telling lies and keeping secrets." It was a friendly, snarky, teasing response.  
So I retorted, "and if you want the dirt keep digging! Well, reading."

After a good laugh from all, and winces from Mom and Abe, Eddie continued. Then came my recap of how the following morning played out. And of that afternoon. A range of reactions played on faces at that and as Eddie read on to describe what ended up as Mia's payback. That said, not a word was spoken. They were intrigued and interested as to how the controversy played out, although they were disgusted by it. Even Mia who'd caused it in the first place.

Eddie was uninterrupted as he kept on reading. Right into Christian's detailing the rumour that Jesse had spread about the lounge. I'd done practically exactly that with Strigoi Dimitri.

My restored man became very defensive of me. He also apologised in my ear for his reaction, or lack thereof, in that night's training. He also promised to also make tonight's exploits even more meaningful.

Had we really become so sex crazed? We were still all about emotion and the other. But were we becoming so sex crazed simply because we could finally put those emotions into bedroom action without any consequences? We now truly had the freedom we'd deluded ourselves into thinking we had in Russia. Yet the emotions needed to get me to have sex with Strigoi Dimitri, Strigoi Dimitri hadn't possessed.

" _Alone in my room later on, I cried for the first in years_.  
" _Once I got that out of my system, I was about to put on my pajamas when I heard a knock at my door. Dimitri. He studied my face and then glanced away, obviously aware I'd been crying_."

"My heart was breaking at the sight, my dearest Roza." Dimitri whispered in my ear. "I didn't look away because I thought you shouldn't have been crying over it. Rather because I felt, well, there's no way to describe it. I couldn't stand the sight of you in pain. I wanted you in my arms, I needed to comfort you, my love."  
"But duty got in the way."  
"Quit doing that milaya!" he playfully chastised in my ear.  
"Not happening, Comr-" Dimitri shut me up with a passionate kiss.  
"That nickname! You have no clue what that does to me, Roza!" he breathed against my lips.  
"You don't know what 'Roza' does to me." I restarted the kiss.

Meanwhile, luckily, the rest were listening to Eddie. Dimitri and I tuned back in to hear, " _I shot_ _a panicked look at Lissa, but she was already retreating. "I'll take care of everything this time, Rose._ ** _Everything_** _."_ That's another chapter down."

Eddie finished. Then musing started. And questions. Lots of questions sent Dimitri's and my way. This time we could answer more than we couldn't because it'd be a spoiler.

"Quick break, then straight on to chapter thirteen? Then dinner?" asked Sonya- who held Nadia waking up from her afternoon nap in her arms. We all readily agreed to that plan.

After a five minute break, we were all comfortable again. Ready to listen to yet another chapter.  
"Okay, who's willing to step up for unlucky thirteen?" joked Eddie.  
"My turn," Paul accepted the challenge. He was currently on my lap, taking a break from his mom and spending time with his aunt, and his uncle he never saw.  
"Okay," agreed Karo and looked pointedly at me.  
"I'll help with the tricky words, Paul," I noted in his ear. Paul nodded.

Eddie tossed the book my nephew's way. Thanks to his training, said nephew deftly caught the object. Quickly, Paul opened up to the necessary page and started reading.


	13. THIRTEEN

DPOV  
" _The aftermath of Jesse and Ralf's lies was about as horrible as I'd expected_."

My nephew successfully pronounced 'aftermath' and 'expected'. At ten he was stronger in English reading and speaking than I'd expected. He was on my Roza's lap and reading extremely well. I was proud of him. And my Roza when she helped him a few times.

The sight was beautiful. The way my Roza interacted with my nieces and nephew in general, was beautiful. It was tear inducing to see her melt around children, simply not a sight or a side you'd ever expect to see.

It saddened me to realise I'd never be able to give her that. I didn't care about having my own kids if they weren't my Roza's. I didn't see it as her taking them from me. Quite the opposite. What hurt even more is that she'd clearly already thought about them.

Back at the ski lodge, she'd brought them up in relation to Tasha's offer. Then again when I'd told her I'd rejected Tasha's offer. She'd mentioned her mother mentioning children when we'd been on the ventilation system and she'd suggested I leave her for Tasha's offer. That had made my mind up. How could I leave her behind, when she oh so clearly loved me and was hurt by nearly every interaction I had with Tasha on that trip? How could I be so selfish? How could I leave her, when I suddenly saw the grown woman in her springing forth? How could I leave her when she needed me in order to grow into the woman she could be, and now most definitely is? How could I run away like a coward when I was addicted to her? I couldn't. I'd hurt her time and again and she kept forgiving me even when in pain. I had accused her of being a selfish bitch over Christmas break, but I'd been no better. I couldn't be so selfish and hypocritical by letting Rose suffer more pain by walking away, by refusing to ride out our time at the Academy while trying to find the ideal solution.

She still hasn't told me who told her about Tasha's offer. Not that it mattered since it had been wrong of me to withhold that information from her, a personal secret not a Guardian Secret. I had no right to not sit down with her and discuss it with her like adults. I had no right to hurt her that way.

Basically, she'd given children some thought. Clearly, in the contexts of me with Tasha and her with Adrian. Which meant she'd likely compared those two situations against ours. She'd have had to be seventeen at the time and it was not something she'd have wanted to think about.

I wanted to be the one to give her children when she felt ready because she was absolutely stunning when around them. She'd matured so much since Spokane. Then again between the attack and rescue. And much more after Russia. She'd continue to grow, change and develop. But it will always be hard for her to let go of her reckless, life embracing ways; she'd never let Lissa battle the darkness on her own, nor would she ever ask her friend to forego the magic to save her own sanity. Selfless. My Roza really was selfless and humble behind that wild-girl façade. She'd eventually make an amazing mother if she ever wanted children.

I was so engrossed in my reflections and admiring of the scene in front of me. I missed a bit of information contained within this chapter. What I tuned into was precious. " _At the beginning of the next day, I headed out to meet Dimitri. These practices were my favourite part of the day now, partly because of my stupid crush on him and partly because I didn't have to be around the others_."

We had a good laugh over her underestimation of what connection was forming between her and I. A few snarky or sarcastic comments were thrown around.

Paul eventually got back to reading. What he recounted next had me suspecting I knew what was coming. The revelation to Roza over Mama and my sorry excuse for a father. So, I shot Mama and Yeva a warning, apologetic and questioning look. Mama nodded and Babushka instructed Paul to hand the book over to me. He did. Unquestioningly and un-hesitatingly and unhappily. Roza told him something in such a hushed tone not even I heard it. He turned somber, then mischievous. What was Roza planning? My grinning nephew nodded along, then planted a kiss on his Aunt Roza's cheek, walked over to his babushka and sat on her lap after hugging her tightly.

Oh, she was good. My Roza was very good. That settled Mama, bringing about "aww"s and laughter in the process.

I picked up from where Paul had finished. " _Dimitri finally called a break. We carried the equipment we'd used on the field and returned everything to the supply room. While putting it away, he glanced at me and did a double take._  
" _"Your hands." He swore in Russian_." That brought about a gentle chastising from Mama and her and my older sisters laughing as they reflected on my childhood and adolescent habit. " _I could recognise it by now, but he refused to teach me what any of it meant. "Where are your gloves?"_  
" _I looked down at my hands._ "

On I continued through that interaction with my Roza. When I hadn't found an appropriate word to comfort my Rose regarding her insecurity over her looks I was asked what I'd wanted to tell her. Everyone wanted to know and I wanted my Roza to know. Even then she'd never simply been pretty, but she'd been beautiful. She always had been and always would be in my eyes. The others laughed and shook their head dramatically at her trying to stop falling in love with me when she was clearly already a goner.

I returned to reading. Covering the bitterness between Rose and her mom. They forgave and moved on. They'd already fixed that issue, apparently.

" _When he finished cleaning my open wounds, he found a jar of salve and began rubbing it into the rough parts of my skin. I sort of got lost in the feel of his hands massaging mine._ "

She hadn't been the only one. The group laughed over how totally unprofessional this moment was. That was one of the most professional unprofessional moments by comparison.

I eventually restarted reading Rose's recount of that moment in our past. Mama didn't judge me on divulging the information I did. She said that Roza and I were already together by that point but we didn't realise it. So, she was fine with her daughter-in-law knowing. She didn't quite like the others knowing... Until, like my Roza's, their opinions on her way of life started changing. She wasn't about to apologise for choosing family, just like my Roza wasn't about to apologise for loving me.

Then the reading covered reflecting on the lounge. I told Rose just why I got upset about that. A gorgeous, lovesick look played on her melted face. She so readily showed her emotions on her face, but they never showed when she was hurt and didn't always reflect the way she was feeling unless with me. I was a different case. It was worrisome and meant I was in her bad books (the last place I wanted to be) if I was shown her Guardian Mask.

When it came to advising Rose not to cut her hair, and how I'd played with said silky loose curls, comments broke out. As did laughter. And "aww"s at my Roza's reaction. Apparently most of those in the room were hopeless romantics... Even Alberta. And they were mellowing out Rose's parents.

I finished the chapter with, " _He moved toward the doorway, a small smile playing over his lips. "Wear it up."_ " After marking the page and returning the book to the coffee table, I pulled Roza into a kiss. My hands now completely shamelessly and guiltlessly played with and revelled in the feeling of her hair.

Lissa soon pulled Rose away to the kitchen. To prepare our dinner apparently.

Which was simple ham and or turkey sandwiches. And two massive bowls of fries to share.


	14. FOURTEEN

RPOV

After a simple and earlier-than-last-night dinner, Sonya put Nadia down for the night. And Karo tucked Zoya in... Much to Zoya's annoyance and displeasure.

Upon her return, Karo picked up Vampire Academy from the table as she passed by. "Now, I believe it may be my turn to read if no one else wishes to." The room agreed to the eldest of Dimitri's sisters reading chapter fourteen. She started. " _I continued spying on Lissa over the next couple of days, feeling mildly guilty each time. She'd always hated it when I did it by accident, and now I did it on purpose_."

The bond told me Liss still felt bad about forcing me into having to do what she hated. She'd learnt to accept and embrace what the bond could allow me to do thanks to it saving her life when I was half way around the world. She didn't hold animosity towards my actions back then because we'd talked almost all of it out after Russia.

" _One morning, I tuned into her while she was getting ready for breakfast. She'd spent the last twenty minutes blow-drying and straightening her hair, something she hadn't done in a while. Natalie, sitting on the bed in their room, watched the process with curiosity. When Lissa moved onto makeup, Natalie finally spoke_." continued Karo.

Everyone listened on in silence. Curiosity had gripped the group as most didn't know of this interaction. That being said, Lissa and I muttered comments under our breath about Natalie not being so innocent after all. Then covered was the compulsion incident before mass. Laughter broke out at my relief of having that service start comment. And of course, my thoughts in the book had to turn to Dimitri. " _Dimitri sat in the back as usual, for once not scanning every corner for danger. His attention was turned inward, his expression almost pained. I still didn't know why he came to church. He always seemed to be wrestling with something_."

"Of course I was," huskily whispered Dimitri in my ear as Karo continued reading.

"I get it now," I returned just as softly.

"Yeah, you do. And again with the reading me," he ended with a quiet chuckle. "Still say that later comment holds true. Even after everything." My man was referring to the charm and Russia without giving out spoilers. I was then pulled into a kiss.

One rudely interrupted by a snarky comment from Christian. "How do you forget the school's namesake?" I simply rolled my eyes and told Karo to keep reading. She did. Covering the next little bit of the day without interruption. Then came the Miles, Anthony, Mason too much testosterone incident.

"You're my hero and gas mask," I reassured Dimitri when it came up.

Next came my musings over my feelings for Mase. Well, my inability to return his. " _As I talked to him, I noticed the adoring look he always got around me spread across his face. It made me sad to have him feel that way about me. Guilty, even._

" _How hard would it be, I wondered, to go out with him? He was nice, funny, and reasonably good-looking. We got along. Why did I get caught up in so many messes with other guys when I had a perfectly sweet one here who wanted me? Why couldn't I just return his feelings?_

" _The answer came to me before I'd finished asking myself the question_." Even though they knew the answer, sorta, the group was on the edge of their seats, brimming with anticipation. " _I couldn't be Mason's girlfriend because when I imagined someone holding me and whispering dirty things in my ear, he had a Russian accent_."

The group's heads snapped to where I was sitting on Dimitri's lap, getting exactly what I'd imagined. Him wrapping me in him and whispering in my ear, "you got me, Roza. You're so in for it!" They all burst out into laughter. And commentary.

"Now look at you!" laughed Vika. Similar agreements went around the room. My parents shook their heads in dismay that their rebellious daughter had gone there, crossed That line.

Karo restarted after everyone had quieted. "... _"No. I mean, it's hot in principal but not in practice."_ "

"It's extremely hot in practice with you," I purred in Dimitri's ear.

"Woman!" Dimitri groaned in my ear as a response. "You really have no idea what you do to me."

"Try to teach me later," was my seductive return. I could already feel what I was doing to him, what I always did to him, as I kissed him passionately.

When we pulled back, we listened in to hear, " _I turned on the beauty queen smile again._

" _With hasty assurances that he'd see what he could do, he left for lunch, and I went off to practice_."

"And to get another dose of my brother!" Vika laughed then cringed and winced. The rest of the room exploded in laughter. Even Dimitri and I.

"That's what I thought of our practices. Another dose of you. You, Roza Hathaway, are addictive," huskily murmured Dimitri in my ear. I grinned like the lovesick fool I was and shivered.

"That's chapter fourteen done," Karo stated when all had calmed again. "Let's read chapter fifteen after I put Paul to bed," she continued.

"I'll put him down, sister," I offered when I noticed the scowl that was a mirror for Dimitri's started forming on the exhausted child's face.

"Thanks, Roza," Karo sent a tired smile my way.

"Night Mama, Babushka, Aunt Sonya, Uncle Dimka." Paul said to each in turn and kissed their cheeks and gave them a hug. Then came my turn. I stood and picked my nephew up since he's still short enough to do so. His arms wrapped around my neck as he clung to me, perched on my hip. "Night everyone!" he called back as I walked out the door with him.

"Night Paul," they chorused in response.

"Aunt Roza?" asked Paul just before stepping into the kids shared room.

"Yes, Paul?"

"You and Uncle Dimka are perfect together. Your story is so cute," he commented sleepily as I set him in his bed.

"Not all of it, Paul, it's not all cute. You know part of the why. My story with your uncle Dimka is not all ponies and rainbows. It's not a fairy tale, it is in no way a fairy tale." I pulled the covers over his nearly asleep form. Then sat on the bed's edge.

"But you still have him. You overcame his turning."

"Paul? Why did you use that term and not 'death'?"

A yawn was let out. "Because he didn't die, not properly. I'm the next Guardian Belikov, I have to accept the difference. The girls could let go and move on, but not you or I, Great-Grandmother takes both sides it depends on her gift. With Uncle Dimka she took our side, not truly letting go and made sure you didn't do the same. The life and sense of reality in Baia is very different to a guardian's. Mama, Babushka, Aunt Sonya and Aunt Vika can play pretend, grieve and forget, but not us. We know better, we know being Strigoi is worse since it's our reality to kill them as a job and lifestyle. We go through the same training but the girls who train in America take a different view to the ones from Baia. That relaxed life makes our jobs harder."

"Yeah. You're right, Paul. And just like Dimitri, you are extremely bright. As he says about me, you are capable of processing and knowing things people twice your age can't. You are going to be an amazing guardian, nephew. You may even outshine me if you keep this up."

"Thanks Aunt Roza, but you will always be the better one. You're even better than uncle Dimka if only because he trained you." Another yawn escaped him and his eyes were struggling to stay open.

"I don't think so. Private Paul," I softly joked and he blushed. "Just like Uncle Dimka." I brushed the hair from his face, tucking it behind his ear, before placing a light kiss on his forehead. "Night, Paul. I love you," I whispered tenderly.

"Night, Aunt Roza. I love you, too." His eyes shut and his breathing evened and shallowed.

Once I was certain he was asleep, I quietly rose and left. Only for a set of brown pools to meet me at the door. Those brown pools were swimming with tears. "Oh Dimitri." I snuggled into his chest and pushed us out of the room, softly closing the door after us somehow.

"Roza," he cried into my hair. In that one word, I knew exactly what he was thinking. I understood what was going through his head. And that it was extremely close to what I had felt and thought over winter break.

"Shut up, Dimitri Belikov!" I cautiously but playfully chastised. "I only want you, I only need you. I can't be happy without you, I can't be happy without you being happy."

"But you've thought about them, haven't you? Over Christmas break."

"Spoiler alert. I didn't get a choice. We'll discuss this later, Comrade. We've just gotten you back, let's focus on that, on us, just us, for now. I love you."

"As I love you," he declared.

His tears dried and he calmed, realising every moment we got with the other was precious. This was the precious, impossible future together we'd dreamed of. It was more imperative to treasure this time together.

Recomposed, we entered the common room. Wrapped in the other.

"He's asleep," I notified Karo.

"Thank you, Roza. You have no idea how helpful it is."

"All good. He's got a shining future ahead of him. And he's as much of a teddy bear and as placid as this one here," I gesture to Dimitri with my head before we sat. The Belikova's laughed at that. Dimitri paled.

"Rose! You know that's not true," my man whinged in my ear.

"Who's reading chapter fifteen?" I asked. Refocusing the group.


	15. FIFTEEN

DPOV

"I am," Sonya spoke. Then took the book from our eldest sister when Karo handed it over. " _Mason delivered._

 _"He found me the next day before school. He was carrying a box of books._

" _"I got them," he said. "Hurry and take them before you get in trouble for talking to me._ ""

Everyone was quiet. Exhausted from another long day of reading. But still interested nonetheless. Those who knew Mason were in a solemn and respectful silence. Coping with their loss in their own way- evident by the varying expressions- without saying anything that would be a spoiler. Although, his absence basically said what they didn't, couldn't and or wouldn't.

The silence remained while my sister kept reading. Rose's research over Vlad and Anna. His diary entries. What had scared her. What she'd kept from me, the exact knowledge and information that had frightened her when she and Lissa started heading that way.

I had to wonder how they were doing now. How my Roza was doing. I had started accepting the plausibility of the ghost vision when it had led to us to cleaning out the caves as much as possible. I now had to accept them and that Rose was so close to death that she also saw them.

Sonya covered Rose's discomfort with the 'shadow-kissed' term. How she'd first heard it from Sonya Karp. How Karp had urged her out of the Academy walls. " _Her words were crazy. No one left the Academy. Yet as she held me there and stared into my eyes, I began to feel strange. A fuzzy feeling clouded my mind. What she said suddenly sounded very reasonable, like the most reasonable thing in the world. Yes. I needed to take Lissa away, take her-_ "

Everyone was still quiet. Still tired, ready for bed, but interested even if they knew the outcome.

" _The guardians had later explained to me that she wasn't well and had been taken to a place where she could recover. She would be safe and cared for, they assured me. She would recover_."

Lissa and Roza exchanged a knowing and mischievous look as something clearly shot through that bond. Spoilers. Clearly.

" _Only she hadn't_." Sonya continued on.

Next came a party Lissa had directed Mason to spring Rose for. My woman had gone. And done nothing irrational... Well, by a normal person's standards. By Roza standards and her resulting friends standards regarding her it was completely irrational, made no sense and was completely reckless.

" _"Why aren't you drinking?" Mason asked me a little while later, speaking quietly into my ear._ " The St Vladimir's group members gasped in astonishment before quieting for Sonya to continue.

" _I glanced down at my cup, half surprised to see it full._

" _"I don't know. I guess I don't think guardians should drink around their charges."_ You sound like Dimka already!" Sonya's exclamation had the rest of us laughing.

"And you say I give zen life lessons!" I chuckled in my wonderful woman's ear in amusement and affection.

"Screw you!" she muttered playfully in return.

" _"She's not your charge yet! You aren't on duty. You won't be for a long time. Since when did you get so responsible?"_ "

"The moment I met you!" softly exclaimed Roza who then turned and pecked my cheek.

"The moment she met you!" the rest of the group directed at me. The exclamation chorusing with my Roza's.

Sonya continued when the laughter lessened into nothing, silence embraced the room. " _I didn't really think I was all that responsible_."

"Yeah sure!" sung the younger in the room.

" _But I_ _ **was**_ _thinking about what Dimitri had said about balancing fun and obligation. It just seemed wrong to let myself go wild when Lissa was in such a vulnerable state lately. Wiggling out of my tight spot between her and Mason, I walked over and sat beside Natalie._ "

The mention of Natalie again elicited disgusted murmurs and under-breath comments. Myself included. As Strigoi, she'd nearly killed my Roza. I had only blamed myself for not having Roza's training regime as tough and accelerated as she'd regularly demanded from me. I couldn't help but feel I'd flung her defenceless and in-need-of-protecting being into the perfect set up because I'd denied and lied about my love of her. I couldn't help but think I was responsible for every Strigoi interaction she'd ever had so far in her life.

My sister kept reading. Through that party. And the dreaded room trashing incident where Rose took the fall for Lissa. Selfless. My Roza definitely was selfless even if she put on a selfish and bitchy façade. She never did anything with out good reason either. I loved her all the more for it. Rose was her own person, an individual who didn't let what others said get to her... Most of the time. She may be my woman, and I may want to protect her from everything, but she was her own extremely resilient person. Another thing which made me love her all the more. I was proud of the woman I loved, the one who used to be my student but had never managed a purely professional relationship with. I refused to apologise and feel guilty about that anymore. I was meant to be with her and she had needed me to guide her, teach her and love her. I had since committed far worse crimes against the world; I wasn't about to feel bad about finding my soulmate, the woman I was so perfectly in sync with and would always love to no end no matter what.

" _Back in Lissa's room, with Xander's arm around me and her angry and upset eyes on us, I didn't know if she'd do anything drastic again. But the situation reminded me too much of that one from two years ago, and I knew I had to diffuse it_."

Sonya kept reading and the room was silent, we were all ready to go to bed. Not that Roza and I would get much sleep again tonight. If she let me, that is. I would never push her out of her comfort zone, not after what the Strigoi me had done to her in Russia. She'd always been the one to call the shots even if she thought I ran the show. She would always be the one to veto anything I wanted to do with her.

" _Across the room, Lissa met my eyes with relief. She smiled and gave me a small nod of thanks before she returned her attention to Aaron._ "

Sonya sighed, "that's all folks." Half the room laughed at her ending.

"Looney Tunes!" Roza explained with a giggle. That giggled and the accompanying smile made my heart melt. She was gorgeous, beautiful and stunning. Always had been and always would be. Even in a bitch fight and verbal argument.

"Let's go to bed, love," I suggested in her ear. My lover shivered, hastily said night from both of us and pulled me out of the room.

"I love you, Roza. So much," I mumbled across her lips after pressing her against the back of our locked bedroom door.

"I love you, Comrade. More than anything. Now," she shot me a cunning yet drop dead sexy and suggestive look.

That look spelled trouble. I was going to be in pain... a whole lot of pain. It just wasn't the type of pain I'd be in if we were in training. She was planning on teasing and punishing me as playfully and pleasurably as I was her. Oh, tonight was going to be fun.

"Shut up, love," I playfully teased before pulling her into a deep, passionate and loving kiss. The kiss that started the games that went on most of the night. I loved that woman and let her know I was all hers, that I'd always been hers.


	16. SIXTEEN

RPOV

Last night had been fun. Intense. Playful. Loving. And sleep depriving but so worth it.

We were awoken by a knock on the door to Dimitri's room early morning. We'd 'gone to bed' at ten last night. Sleep, however, hadn't happened until two thirty. A look at the clock told us it was three forty-five. An hour and a quarter later. Lovely!

"Hang on!" I called. Quickly rushing to get dressed. So did Dimitri. After throwing on a pair of spotty cotton sleep shorts and stealing one of Dimitri's tees, I opened the door to find Sonya and Nadia. A crying Nadia and an already freaking and stressed Sonya.

"Sorry to wake you lovebirds, but I can't settle her. Roza," she looked at me, silently pleading for help.

"Come here Nadi," I cooed and removed her from her mother's arms.

"Sonya." Dimitri pulled his sister into our room while I carried Nadi to the bed. She was still crying and her mother was still freaking out.

"Nadi, Nadi, Nadi," I crooned softly, gently stroking my niece's forearm and kissing her forehead. Meanwhile Dimitri hugged my sister-in-law.

"Relax Sonya." Sonya started blabbering about not being a good mom as I kept shifting Nadia, trying to find the ideal place and way to hold her so she'd calm. Dimitri wouldn't hear of his sister putting herself down. "You're an amazing Mama, Sonya. You're tired, exhausted. Just as Nadia is. Not to mention both probably jet-lagged."

"She can feel your stress, Sonya. She can hear and smell something's up- her senses are as sharp as any dhampir's," I tried to soothe while rocking with a calming Nadi on my shoulder.

My attempt at soothing my sister-in-law worked. Surprisingly enough.

"Roza, would you mind feeding her if I made a bottle?"

"Not at all, sister. I'll feed her if you want me to." Nadi was nearly asleep on my shoulder.

"Thanks," she smiled, turned and left.

"These kids are making you mellower and softer than I do." Dimitri pouted as he cautiously brought us into a group hug.

"We need to talk about that sometime," I sighed.

"Are you saying you want children?" Dimitri asked in surprise as he slowly released me and Nadi.

"I don't know," I admitted. "I know you're ready. I know you'd be an amazing dad. I know I feel like I'm taking that from you. I know I'm not ready." Shock then understanding crossed his face.

"You thought about this over the ski trip, didn't you? Tasha's offer and your mother's comment regarding Adrian after she pulled you from the banquet made you think about this. It's why you told me to take the offer, you truly thought I'd moved on and was happy with her, didn't you?"

"Spoilers!" I teased to cover wanting to cry because he'd read me so well again.

"Oh Roza. How do you still love me?"

"How can I not, Dimitri? How can I not love you when you've taught me everything, given me everything, made me who I am? You're my reason for living, and the reason I'm sane."

"Oh Roza. I love you. I'll never be able to say it enough. I should never have fought you, should never have tried to hide from you and your ability to see through me." I could see every emotion playing across his face. "There's worse things in life than falling for a forbidden but destined someone." Sonya quickly handed me the bottle and left, after pausing my convo with Dimitri. "I should have never denied you the truth."

Dimitri wasn't quite giving me a guilt speech, more like a regret speech. One that was beginning to sound like the preamble to a proposal speech. "You had perfectly good reasons, Comrade," I said, sitting in a recliner and began feeding Nadi.

"Life's too short. Even more so for those of us who become guardians." Dimitri came and sat in front of me. "You were never really my student, Rose. Never. You weren't meant to be."

"I needed to be, though. I needed to learn from you. I don't regret a single moment, Dimitri. Not one single moment." Damn! Now I sounded as though I was about to start a proposal speech.

"Even Russia?" He cocked an eyebrow.

"Even Russia. We went through what we did for a reason."

"Even death threat love letters?"

"Even those. If only because they were motivation to get you back. I actually almost laughed at the one perfectly timed for my trial. The note that I really shouldn't need to take it. I agreed wholeheartedly. I'm glad they did though." I said seriously but with an amused smile. Shock crossed his face. Strigoi mafia head hadn't been all knowing apparently. How was my life so full of irony? My dad is a Moroi mobster boss, and my boyfriend, lover, whatever, was a mafia head while Strigoi.

"They made you take it?"

"Yeah. They did. Spoilers for how it went down though." I smirked playfully and he growled. "I like this. This us. It's nice."

"We don't have to hide anymore. No rules to worry about. That's all that's changed, Roza." He sent a warm smile my way. I melted even more. "I love you, Rose. You never gave me the option not to."

"Speak for yourself, Comrade," I sighed, perfectly contented. The smile hadn't left his face. It almost never did since I'd gotten him back.

"What did you end up doing on your birthday?" my man casually asked with a cheeky smile. "Party? Surely you left your hair down just that once."

"No. I didn't. How could I when you weren't there?" It hurt to think about how that day had turned out. Dimitri squinted at me, trying to puzzle out what had happened.

"You dropped," he said suddenly. "You dropped and came straight for me in Russia. You didn't get your birthday."

How did he manage that? How did he always see through me? How did he know me so well? How had he always known me that well?

"Sp-"

"I can read you, Rose. It's plain as day on your face," Dimitri cut me off with a loving look.

Not too much later, Nadi finished her milk. Hungry little girl.

"Roza?" Dimitri started warily while I was burping baby Nadi.

"Yeah?"

"Do you know what happened with my stuff? There was a couple gifts for your grad in my room."

"I don't know. I wasn't allowed to clean. I didn't want to, really. I didn't think I'd be able to handle it if I was allowed." Compassion and love shone bright as day on his face.

"You did nothing, didn't you? You holed up, hid in your dorm where no one could find you." My face must have given me away again. "Spoilers, apparently."

"What did you expect after my soul was ripped in two after it had just been made complete, after the cabin? I'd never felt so alive and then my reason for living was taken from me, wouldn't you do the same? Wouldn't you have said 'screw the cover'?" I could feel I was holding back tears.

"Yes. I would have blown the cover if it'd been you. I was close to blowing our cover when you went missing. I can't live without you, Roza Hathaway. I can't and don't want to. You're my everything, always have been and always will be. You'll always come first."

"Dimitri, if you're going to propose, just do it!" I giggled. "This is about the third time this morning you've given what sounds like a proposal speech."

"Do you want me to propose, Rose?" He sounded like he was holding back excitement because he was taken aback that I'd thought of it and been the one to broach the topic.

I was eighteen and didn't want to marry until twenty or older. But I did want to marry him, to have him as mine legally, to be assured he'd never change his mind about us ever again. I wouldn't marry until there was a two in my age, but I would happily agree to a long engagement.

"If you don't ask me now, I'll ask you," I threatened.

And I really would. He was old enough and ready to marry; I wanted, desperately needed, to be the one he married. A grin broke out on his face. My Comrade gracefully adjusted from his sitting position to kneeling on one knee.

"Well then, Guardian Rosemarie Hathaway, my Roza. Will make me the happiest man ever, marry me?"

"Yes." I was grinning like a Cheshire Cat. "Yes!" I squealed in excitement. His face had never looked so bright, peaceful, happy. He had never looked hotter. "Yes, I will marry you, Dimitri Belikov. I'll be your Roza Belikova." My badass had never looked so much like a lovesick Russian teddy bear. He rose up and kissed me. Wary of how I was holding Nadi, of course.

It was four thirty when we entered the common room for another day of reading. I handed a calm Sonya a sleeping Nadi. She thanked me profusely. Meanwhile, Alberta had pulled Dimitri from the room and Yeva wore a knowing and cunning expression.

"Yeva," I warned the witchy-type old woman. "What do you know and what are you up to?"

"You will see soon enough, dearest Belikova granddaughter."

She knew. Of course she did. Marrying Dimitri had been a regular, powerful thought over the past two days. And it had been in Russia, or the regret and heartache over the then perceived impossibility. The idea had clearly been seriously thought about by him, too.

The rest of the room looked on in confusion. Olena came to the rescue again.

"Breakfast?" was all she needed to ask. We agreed to a group serving of bacon and scrambled eggs, toast and milk.

Dimitri reentered ten minutes later.

DPOV

I was led out of the room by Alberta.

"Yeva told me it was going to happen today, that one or both of you had decided to propose." She started excited and happily. But soon turned solemn as she said, "I was the one to pack your room. I saved a few, obviously Rose related, items." Alberta seemed amused by something as she led me to her room. "You took a massive risk holing those things in your dorm when we knew you weren't really with Tasha and there wasn't another woman that was common knowledge you were with. Although, you get points for hiding in plain sight. No one searches guardian or staff dorms."

I sighed and stepped through the door. "She was worth every risk of being stripped of my title and ending up in jail. She never left me with a choice, Petrov. She never gave me a chance to fight in any other way than for her."

She went hunting for something's in her suitcase. "Yeah. I saw. I'll never forget the way she looked just outside those caves, afterwards or after Russia. Heartbroken and empty and lonely doesn't begin to cover it," said Alberta as she pulled out a few things I recognised. "Her graduation stake. That necklace. Lip gloss- I still can't believe you knew what type to get her."

I shrugged. "She kept complaining about it and it was clear she kept forgoing all other makeup in anticipation for her career taking it from her anyway."

"The little things. You noted the little things about her others didn't. You saw what everyone else refused to acknowledge. You saw what she didn't do in general, what she did and didn't do in comparison to Edison and their motley then-novice crew." A couple more things were pulled out of hiding.

"Yes. I did." I proceeded to gasp when she pulled out a tiny box I recognised well.

"Here. Make a show at breakfast."

A grin split the guardian woman's face as she tossed me the box, which contained an item worth nearly as much as Roza's rose necklace Victor gave her then inflicted the charm on us through it. I would never have been able to afford it if Ivan hadn't left me a massive payout in his Will.

What she pulled out lastly was not at all Rose related. Or was it? I moved over to the collection of items and picked up the one thing that earned me the most teasing from Roza but was going to be mighty handy for hiding all these gifts.

"Thank you, Petrov," I smiled as she shut the door, readying to return to my Roza.

"No worries Belikov." Alberta smiled back.

"Was she going to get these if I hadn't been restored?" I asked curiously.

"Yes. She was. When she finally came to her senses and dumped Ivashkov. Not a second before, for obvious reasons."

"That ski trip was torture first time round. I can't see how the second book isn't all about that."

"As I can't see how book four won't reveal all about her trip to Russia."

"That's going to be gut wrenching, listening to that."

"She found you, didn't she? She dropped to hunt you. I heard that promise on that Missoula trip. I immediately skipped the 'suicide mission' thought jumping straight to 'she's just asking to be turned'."

Ouch! Too close to the truth. I didn't respond as I opened the door to the common room. Mama was cooking in the kitchen but exited as soon as she heard me greet my Roza.

"Roza?" I asked to grab her attention even though I already had it. I was always her focus.

"Yeah, Comrade?" she flashed me her man eater smile.

I was powerless yet again; she was roaming me with her eyes, definitely checking me out. (In the way one appreciates a long term lover.) I didn't care. She knew what lay under these clothes, just as I knew what lay under hers and was very, very, very appreciative of it.

"I have a few gifts for you," I said as I sat down next to her.

"You shouldn't have!" she whined adorably. "I'm not sure how to feel about that sight for sore eyes duster that returns you to a cowboy wannabe," she laughed. The room looked on in curiosity.

"Well, here's gift one," I smiled and pecked her lips before handing over the gloss.

"Oh!" My fiancé's face lit up at the sight of the beauty product she loved.

"That's not all, Roza. Alberta may have saved some things I collected in order to give you after graduation. This is one of the most important ones." I pulled out the stake and handed it over. "This is the stake you used to learn with. It delivered my first kill and, then hoping you wouldn't have to kill until after graduation, I thought it would deliver your first fatal blow. It's the one I also learnt with, the one my mentor gifted to me at my graduation."

"G-Galina? Galina gave you that stake?"

"It's a tradition in Russia with the elite, top echelon mentored novices. Her mentor handed it down to her, as his handed it down to him. That stake has a long, lethal history. And now it has a love story, too. Look at the hilt." I had my initials engraved. And her Russian name underneath.

"How? When?" My love's face was filled with awe and wonder, and calculation, the wheels spun as she tried to figure it out.

"Over Christmas," I admitted with a boyish and slightly sheepish smile.

Understanding lit her eyes and face. "That trip with Tasha?"

"Yes."

"I love you, so much. Thank you." She hid the weapon in one of her many hiding spots. Not wasting a second, she pulled me into a loving kiss.

"I love you, Roza. And I'm not yet done," I spoke against her lips.

"More? How much more?" her tone was laced with worry over how much I'd spent on her.

"Not much."

"Which is far too much for me," she teased. She knew I knew she hated gifts.

"Suck it up!" I teased back, all our friends and family still watching in awed and engrossed silence.

"Oh, fine," she sighed happily.

"Okay." I pulled out the next gift. "This was Mama's."

"It holds my best memory of who'd be your father-in-law. It was handed to him from his mother. His father handed it to his mother and it came from his father's mother. It's generations old and gets handed down from mother to son to hand over to the one he loves. I, clearly, was the first non-royal and non-Moroi to receive it." Mama explained the significance of the sapphire and amethyst encrusted platinum hair comb. Rose was almost in tears when she told me to put it in her hair.

I had to wonder what my loving mother had ever seen in that ass of a royal. He'd clearly bought her over in the typical way, the way Adrian had tried with my Roza. Where my so-called father succeeded with my clearly susceptible mother, Adrian had failed with my Roza.

"Three last things." I reached for the fixed rose necklace. "First." My Rose gasped when she saw the necklace. She wasn't alone. Except the others didn't know the story to accompany the jewellery piece. "Can I put it on you?" Since I was the one who pulled it off you among all other things she'd worn that night.

"Of course," she breathed out when she remembered how to. After spinning and coming closer, I placed the necklace, which broke my control, around my Roza's neck.

"Beautiful," I breathed in my fiancé's ear.

"Thank you, Dimitri." A small and shy, but stunning smile played on her lips.

"My pleasure and honour, Roza." Abe let out a growl over my use of the word 'pleasure'. Meanwhile, Roza smiled her 'I'm a lovesick teen' smile over the double meaning. "This was meant to be your birthday gift." I leaned in to whisper in her ear, "open it tonight, in our room," while passing her the wrapped gift.

I'd gone to Missoula's VS not long after Rose had admitted to the ghost vision. I had realised I wouldn't last past her birthday, so I decided I would give her what she wanted. Me, the chance to take me. The lingerie had been intended to celebrate her becoming the young woman I'd been seeing her as for a long while.

"One last thing, Roza." I pulled us up off the love-seat. Holding her hand in mine, I began, "Rose Hathaway, I love you with all my heart, with all my soul and with all my being. My life changed the second I set eyes on you in Portland, then again when you fell right into my hands minutes later. Time and again you have taken me off guard, made me break my own first rule, never hesitate. This is one time I refuse to hesitate. Rose Hathaway, my love, you have one powerful name, personality and reputation, but no one knows you as I am so privileged to. You have always come first, even before I knew what was happening. You will always come first. Roza, you never gave me a choice but to love you and put you first. So, Guardian Rosemarie Hathaway, my dearest and most beautiful Rose, my Roza, my love..." I dropped to one knee and pulled out the ring box, placing it in her hands. My left hand under her hands, my right on top, covering the box from sight. "Marry me?" I opened the box as gasps broke the silence that had dominated the room while I'd poured my heart out and built the suspense.

"Yes!" Roza squealed and grinned.

"You will not! You're too young!" exploded Janine while Abe death glared me for not asking his permission first and for the timing. My Roza was not old fashioned in some things, she would also likely make me wait. And I would respect her wishes. I slid the ring onto her finger nonetheless and rose to stand ever so slightly in front of her, a warning to Janine that, mother or not, she was not touching my fiancé.

"Yes. I will. Mother. I'm an adult and you have no clue what we've been through. Yet." While Roza spoke, Janine and Abe's glares worsened. So I had kept moving more defensively in front of my fiancé.

"They have to Janine, Abe," Babushka spoke before either of the addressed two could. "They are meant to. Just because Roza said yes does not mean they will marry this year." Cryptic, Babushka. Cryptic and vague.

RPOV

It took a long glare down between Dimitri and my parents, but they eventually, though unhappily and unwillingly, accepted. The rest had held their breath. They now exploded in excitement and joy. Mama, meanwhile had returned to cooking breakfast and now rejoined us. Setting the food down, then making another trip to the kitchen for drinks. Meanwhile, Dimitri and I were tackled into hugs and showered in "congratulation"s.

"Who's reading next?" I asked excitedly. This day had already been long and eventful, and we'd barely finished breakfast. I was engaged to my Dimitri and overjoyed about the fact.

"Me!" smirked Christian. I threw the book his way. He opened and started reading, " _The next day, it fully hit me how much things had changed since the Jesse-and-Ralf rumours first started._ "

The group settled into a calm, excited silence. Intrigued, wanting know the back story of the engaged couple. I snuggled into my future husband's side. He pulled me closer, then planted a kiss on my cheek.

"I love you, future wife."

"I love you, future husband."

Dimitri took my left hand in his left, stroking it lovingly and tracing around the ring that sat on my ring finger. "It's perfect on you," he sighed happily.

"I've turned you sappy, Dimitri," I cheekily whispered into his ear.

"I'll proudly admit that," his attention moved from the engagement ring to the necklace he'd simultaneously been playing in his right hand. "After everything we've been through, I'll proudly let the world know the badass Rose Hathaway has turned Dimitri Belikov sappy and lovesick.

" _The only person more miserable than Mia was Christian_." Christian's reading eventually broke through my lovesick gazing into my other half's tell-all, warm, bottomless, brown eyes.

" _Unlike her, he had no qualms about studying the happy couple while wearing an open look of hatred on his face. As usual, no one except me even noticed_."

"Dimitri?" Lissa interrupted her boyfriend's awesome job of reading a chapter that seemed to be focused on him. At least for the first part.

"Yes, Lissa?"

"How did you cope? With seeing Rose and Mason? Rose and Jesse? Rose and Adrian? And the way all St Vlad's Senior guys want a piece of her? How did you not explode?" she asked tentatively. I was curious about that.

"I didn't, not really. Ask Adrian. I may have given him a few warnings. It got a little easier when we both quit lying to ourselves that we could live without the other, that we could move on. And, as a guardian, I knew how to hide my feelings pretty well."

"Just not from me." I piped in.

"I'm guessing spoilers are the reason your answer isn't giving specifics," commented Liss. Dimitri nodded. "Then read, Christian!" she instructed.

"Yes love," he pecked her cheek. " _After watching Lissa and Aaron make out for the tenth time, I left lunch early and went to see Ms. Carmack, the teacher who taught elemental basics. I'd been wanting to ask her something for a while._ "

Christian continued on to read through my conversation with the magic teacher and my theorising that afternoon as well as the resulting talk with Liss. Of course, along the way, he had to make a few snide and snarky comments about my "pretty face hiding some brains." Dimitri and Abe glared at him, causing him to pale.

"Of course she does, Ozera. She's my daughter," touted Abe.

"My fiancé has always been brighter than anyone gave her credit for," defended Dimitri.

"That's still surreal," murmured the scared Moroi.

"Just read, Fireboy," I sighed. He nodded and restarted.

" _But I was also starting to think that I might have made a big mistake about Christian. He was creepy and dark and liked to set people on fire, true_."

"I wasn't immune to that!" joked Dimitri in my ear. I took that as a good sign. He was starting to heal emotionally, beginning to forgive himself. Accepting what had happened and beginning to move forward with his life. I'd healed and forgiven him and me between Russian and grad. Now it was his turn and he was doing a remarkable job of it. He clearly wasn't going to walk into our marriage with guilt and baggage. For that progress, I loved him even more. I didn't know I could love someone so much, and when I'd fallen head-over-heels for him I didn't think I'd ever be able to love more than I had then. Oh boy. Was I wrong. I had been so wrong.

I tuned back in to halfway through the conversation with Christian to get him and Lissa back together. Back in to a description of Strigoi that I now understood all too well how confusing and almost normal they seemed when they were loved ones or friends. My mistake had had me nearly killed. Twice. And nearly turned once. Once by Natalie. Then again after becoming Strigoi Dimitri's bloodwhore, nearly getting me turned and killed.

" _The guardians who came to kill them. I mean, my parents were scary, yeah, but they still looked like my parents-a little paler, I guess. Some red in their eyes. But they walked and talked the same way. I didn't know anything was wrong with them, but my aunt did. She was watching me when they came for me._ "

" _"Were they going to convert you?" I'd forgotten my original mission here, too caught up in the story_." Just like everyone else here was currently caught up in my tale.

" _"I think they were going to keep me until I was older, then turn me. Aunt Tasha wouldn't let them take me."_ "

On the recount went. Everyone remained silent, listening intently. Meanwhile, I begrudgingly realised then tackled with having to accept that Christian and I have now never had so much more in common. It was a bitter pill to swallow. And that had nothing to do with his once Strigoi parents and my once Strigoi now fiancé.

" _A ghostly smile flickered across his face. "If you weren't so psychotic, you'd be fun to hang around."_

" _"Funny, I feel that way about you too."_

" _He didn't say anything else, but the smile grew, and he walked away_." finished Christian. "That wasn't weird at all!" he laughed. "Reading all about me in Rose's point of view." We all had a good laugh along with him at that.

"Let's take a quick water break before starting chapter seventeen," suggested Adrian.


	17. SEVENTEEN

DPOV

"Okay. Who wants to read next?" Christian asked after our quick break. That had lasted all of ten minutes.

"Me again," said my darling fiancé. Christian threw the book at her. She aptly, skilfully and gracefully caught it.

That woman was beauty incarnate, I swear. She was my angel, that was for certain.

" _A few days later, Lissa found me outside the commons and delivered the most astonishing news._

" _"Uncle Victor's getting Natalie off campus this weekend to go shopping in Missoula. For the dance. They said I could come along."_ "

I knew where the this was going. I knew what part of my history with Rose was about to be revealed. This was going to be interesting.

The group was still quiet as my love continued reading. I could see Lissa, Christian and Roza wanted to grumble over Natalie again. Normally my beauty was the first to grumble, but she was the one who, ironically enough, was being the most mature.

The moment that ring slid onto her finger, and her parents reluctantly agreed, she'd looked more mature. None of her features had changed, but with the addition of the ring and the change in relationship status, she'd changed the way she carried herself. I doubted she realised what she was doing, but it was becoming and I loved her now more than I ever had before, more than I'd ever imagined possible.

I kept puzzling out and admiring the change my woman had made while she kept reading. I didn't hear much of it, so caught up in Roza's lethal beauty and the thoughts her existence created in my mind.

I tuned back in to hear, " _"Yup. You're going to be Dimitri's partner."_

" _A moment of funny silence fell, probably not noticeable to anyone except Dimitri and me. Our eyes met._

" _"Guarding partner," Dimitri clarified unnecessarily, like he too had been thinking of other kinds of partners_." I had. I most certainly had and I wasn't going to apologise for it when Roza and I were now in one of those partnerships.

" _"Yup," agreed Spiridon._

" _Oblivious to the tension around him, he went on to explain how guardian pairs worked_." Rose kept reading through what happened until when she'd let slip another double-edged line that I'd never forgotten.

" _"And I can't ever take my eyes of her," I noted. "Or you."_ " The room burst out laughing, just as Spiridon had at the time.

"You can't keep your hands off him!" teased Vika.

"You never have! Neither of you have ever been able to keep your eyes or hands off each other!" continued Christian.

"I agree," laughed Alberta. "I quite agree. Who ever thought the first of your grade to get engaged would be Rose Hathaway?" She smiled kindly and fondly at us. "Again, congratulations you two."

"Thanks Alberta," said Rose.

"Thank you, Petrov," I responded.

"Keep reading!" laughed Lissa.

Everyone refocused. Rose restarted. " _Spiridon laughed again and elbowed Dimitri. "You have a star student there. Did you give her a stake?"_ "

I had had a star student. I now looked at her absolutely adoringly. How had I ever thought I could keep myself from her? How had I ever thought I could push us into purely professional roles when we weren't meant to fit in them? I had always loved her, always. It was impossible not to.

" _"You have to keep telling yourself they_ _ **aren't**_ _the same person you knew. They've become something dark and twisted. Something unnatural. You have to let go of attachments and do what's right. If they have any grain of their former selves left, they'll probably be grateful."_ "

Rose's voice was pained, and it was clear to me and everyone else that she wanted to cry. It was the one thing she'd failed to do for me. Repeatedly failed at it. My fiancé put the book down on the table and turned to face me. The tears were threatening to spill. I had to get her out. And fast. So I stood and lifted her up so she was clinging to me, perched on my hip like a baby. The room remained silent as I took my vulnerable Rose out the door and down the hall.

"Roza," I murmured lovingly on her lips after pushing her against the wall.

"I failed Dimitri, twice. Two. I knew two and could kill neither. More importantly, most painfully, you. I failed you. If I was just your student I might have succeeded."

"You weren't meant to kill me, Roza. You weren't meant to succeed, my love. I love you. You brought me back to you. You brought me home, Roza. I love you. You didn't fail me. You didn't fail me."

I cut off any argument she could muster with a kiss. My heart and soul poured into her with that kiss.

"You didn't fail me," I repeated once more. Quickly restarting the kiss.

"I love you, Dimitri. More than should be possible."

"As I love you."

"Let's head back." She smiled as she tugged me back the way we came. Hips swinging.

"Roza!" I growled playfully. "Stop teasing me!"

"Never!" she exploded in laughter. "As long as you have a Russian accent, I'm teasing you. Payback's a bitch!" my fiancé giggled. We'd long since discussed that my accent was her major turn on, especially when it thickened with emotion.

We returned arm in arm. Rose was relaxed and recomposed, that meant I was too. Mostly. She was incredibly resilient and I had a habit of underestimating just how much.

" _"Grateful for me killing them?"_ " Roza restarted reading and the group remained quiet.

Possibly not wanting to set her off if what was coming was tough and painful for her to remember. Which it wasn't, not exactly. It was the more recent memories that came about because of that moment. That moment on its own was an incredibly happy and powerful one. It was the moment when we'd realised the why behind our attraction. Not that either had revealed it was mutual at that point.

" _The van had grown uncomfortably silent. Staring at Dimitri, burdened by all those questions, I suddenly understood why he and I had this weird attraction, good looks aside._

" _I'd never met anyone else who took being a guardian so seriously, who understand_ [s] _all the life-and-death consequences. Certainly no one my age did; Mason hadn't been able to understand why I couldn't relax and drink at the party. Dimitri had said I grasped my duty better than many older guardians, and I didn't get why-especially when they would have seen so much more death and danger._ "

Not anymore. She'd been through far too much. She'd now seen death and danger on a scale a guardian who'd managed to survive to a hundred, and that never happened, wouldn't have. In one year she'd seen so much death and danger it was roughly the equivalent to that of three of the best now retired guardians.

" _But I knew in that moment that he was right, that I had some weird sense of how life and death and good and evil worked with each other._

" _So did he. We might get lonely sometimes. We might have to put our "fun" on hold. We might not be able to live the lives we wanted for ourselves. But that was the way it had to be. We understood each other, understood that we had others to protect. Our lives would never be easy._

" _And making decisions like this was part of that._

" _"If I became Strigoi... I'd want someone to kill me."_ " The quiet was so thick and tense you could cut it with a knife right now.

"So would I," I echoed that conversation then gently guided my fiancé's face to look at mine. "So would I," I repeated as I tipped her chin up. I brought my lips softly down on hers. "So would I, just not you." I brought her into a passionate kiss. "If I ever get turned back, don't come after me," again.

"I won't let those stupid things near you, Comrade. They're going to be dead before they set eyes on you, let alone get close enough to touch you," Roza growled, fiercely defensive and protective of me. It was kind of turning me on, seeing so much passion for me and my safety radiating off her.

"Ahem!" Abe fake coughed to ruin our moment. And just as well or I was going to have problem. As it was, I pulled Roza onto my lap and kissed the bare skin of her neck, cheek, jaw, collar and upper arms.

I zoned in and out as she kept reading. Chuckling when she'd mentioned going to a reception under heavy guard. "Have you always been so volatile?" I spoke against her neck, near her jugular. It was still my favourite spot to tease, but no longer because I wanted to bite. It was her sweet spot.

"Highly explosive," she laughed to avoid moaning in pleasure. The St Vlad's crew joined in the outburst of laughter.

They eventually quieted. Roza read through the rest of the trip. Then the dress came up. "Do you still have that?" I whispered in her ear.

"Yeah. I do. Heels and all," she responded suggestively in my ear. Quickly returning to the book.

" _"This is the dress you were born for. I don't care how practical you are now."_

" _Made of silky black material, the dress was strapless and sleek, falling about to the knees. Although it had a slight flair at the hemline, the rest looked like it would definitely manage some serious clinging action. Super sexy. Maybe even challenge-the-school-dress-code sexy_."

Everyone was on the edge of their seats. Quiet and quietly asking me what I'd thought at the time, what I thought now. They weren't getting to know just yet.

" _"That is my dress," I admitted. I kept staring at it, wanting it so badly it ached in my chest. This was the kind of dress that changed the world._ " It had changed mine. " _The kind of dress that started religions._

" _Lissa pulled out my size. "Try it on."_

" _I shook my head and started to put it back. "I can't. It would compromise you. One dress isn't worth your grisly death."_

" _"Then we'll just get it without you trying it on." She bought the dress._ " It didn't take long for the necklace to come up.

"Is that the one you're wearing?" Jill asked.

"Yeah. It is." Rose responded. Before more questions could start, she added, "spoilers". Then she went back to reading. "... _Sitting next to Dimitri, I leaned back against the seat and yawned, very aware that our arms were touching. That feeling of closeness and connection burned between us._

" _"So, I can't ever try on clothes again?" I asked quietly, not wanting to wake up the others. Victor and the guardians were awake, but the girls had fallen asleep._

" _"When you aren't on duty, you can. You can do it during your off time."_ "

Even then, I knew she'd never take time off, no matter how much she'd whined in the lounge, she'd changed dramatically already by that point. Her dedication to Lissa and her drive to protect her friend made sure she didn't want to take time off for such frivolous things. She was so much like me.

" _"I don't ever want time off. I want to always take care of Lissa." I yawned again. "Did you see that dress?"_

" _"I saw the dress."_

" _"Did you like it?"_

" _He didn't answer. I took that as a yes._ "

Way more than I should have. I'd also been a little puzzled why she'd even asked.

"Did you? Belikov, did you like that dress?" Abe asked, voice full of authority.

"Spoilers," Rose warned. Abe huffed before Rose continued reading. " _"Am I going to endanger my reputation if I wear it to the dance?_ "" She'd endangered my career with the thoughts of her that dress invoked. " _When he spoke, I could barely hear him. "You'll endanger the school."_ " As if her beauty didn't already endanger wherever she went.

" _I smiled and fell asleep_."

She kept reading. Covering her Dashkov rotted bench ordeal. I'd seen it and freaked. Rightly so; it had been as bad as I'd feared. And I hadn't cared about the training she'd missed. I'd been more worried about her being in pain, all the while I'd been mentally cursing I hadn't been able to protect her. We'd all fallen into Dashkov's trap and Roza, Lissa and I muttered under our breath about it.

" _And then I blacked out_." Roza finished the chapter.

"I'm reading chapter eighteen," I declared.

Rose had known what that chapter contained, so I could guess why she'd volunteered to read it. So. Having guessed her reasoning, and what secrets the next chapter held sequestered within, I followed her lead. By reading chapter seventeen she was making a bold statement. By reading chapter eighteen, I'd be doing the same.

The rest of the group readily agreed.

They also readily agreed to leftover and snacks for morning tea.


	18. EIGHTEEN

RPOV

We took an hour and a half long break for morning tea. In that time, we decided on Spaghetti Bolognese for lunch. And Mama, ever the efficient cook, had decided she-along with help from Karo, Sonya, my fiancé and Christian- could cook it while we ate and talked.

After all, the kitchen and accompanying pantry was practically professional. Almost something off one of those cooking shows humans are currently addicted to. So, she had enough burners and space to have six people making a batch on their own. There was also enough ingredients. So that was exactly what we did. Or, well, Mama and her helpers cooked while the rest of us talked.

Dimitri opened Vampire Academy to chapter eighteen when ready. I hope he knows what he's doing. " _I woke up staring at the boring white ceiling of the clinic. A filtered light-soothing to Moroi patients-shone down on me. I felt strange, kind of disoriented, but I didn't hurt_.

" _"Rose."_

" _The voice was like silk on my skin. Gentle. Rich. Turning my head, I met Dimitri's dark eyes. He sat in a chair beside the bed I lay on, his shoulder-length brown hair hanging forward and framing his face_."

"Were you by her bedside the whole time?" Abe just had to ask that. Almost accusingly, too.

"Where else was I going to go? I didn't have a shift and she was hurt." Abe glared at my future husband's challenging in his word choice and structure but respectful in tone response.

"Settle Abe," my mom said in a gentle voice. "It's water under the bridge. Not even Her Majesty is pressing charges. She wants them together."

What had been her briefing? And had we all been briefed by Tatiana personally? My father was calmed by my mother.

"And you say we're a hard-to-fathom match?" I sighed and shook my head. My parents glared at me then told Dimitri to keep reading.

Everyone stayed silent except for a few "aww"s as my fiancé read through what went down in the clinic. My mother kept Abe under control. My Comrade read through the deepening of our connection, the sparks and the touches, the words and unspoken double meanings.

The next thing revealed was Lissa healing me. The attic fight with Christian. And the toll both took. Everyone remained silent as Dimitri continued. Uninterrupted.

Through the bond, I could feel Liss still felt bad about that explosion and blow out. But, she did understand that my choice had been hard and now appreciated my decision.

" _Drops of blood splattered onto the dusty floor, and her world began spinning. Seeing her own blood intrigued her. She had taken blood from others her entire life. Me. The feeders. Now, here it was, leaking out. With a nervous giggle, she decided it was funny. Maybe by letting it out, she was giving it back to those she'd stolen it from. Or maybe she was wasting in, wasting the sacred Dragomir blood that everyone obsessed over_."

Sympathetic looks crossed listeners faces. They stayed quiet while Dimitri continued. Nearly finished the chapter.

" _I'd forced my way into her head, and now I couldn't get out. Her emotions had ensnared me now-they were too strong and too powerful. I had to stop her. She was too weak from the healing to lose this much blood. It was time to tell someone_.

" _Breaking out at last, I found myself back in the clinic. Dimitri's hands were on me, gently shaking me as he said my name over and over in an effort to get my attention. Dr. Olendzki stood beside him, face dark and concerned._

 _"I stared at Dimitri, truly seeing how much he worried and cared about me. Christian had told me to get help, to go to someone I trusted about Lissa. I'd ignored the advice because I didn't trust anyone except her. But looking at Dimitri now, feeling that sense of understanding we shared, I knew that I did trust someone else_.

" _I felt my voice crack as I spoke. "I know where she is. Lissa. We have to help her."_ " Dimitri took a deep breath. "That's another chapter done."

Everyone sat around in silence. Shocked, stunned, surprised silence.

It was deafening. Every person gathered was so tense and uncertain what to do, what to say, what to think. Unsure how to react. Unable to react.

After what felt like an eternity, but was probably no more than ten minutes, I had enough. "We have more reading to do. But first, it's lunch time!" I finished with a cheer.

The group broke from their daze. Everyone agreed to break for lunch.

Those who'd cooked, left. Headed for the kitchen to plate up for the eighteen of us. Of course, I was left to baby sit. I was beginning to enjoy time with the kids, but I couldn't have them with Dimitri so I didn't wish I could. At least for my own sake. I still thought the best part was being able to hand them back to their mothers.

The topic of conversation over lunch was me and Dimitri getting married. Lissa wanted to start planning. As did all three of Dimitri's sisters. Some in the room remained impassive and didn't speak. Jill and Sydney were two such people. Eddie wanted to talk security, big surprise there. My parents simply wanted to forget about it for a decade. Or longer. Dimitri and I wanted alone time, and to start planning when we wanted to, when we felt it was time to begin prepping for the biggest change in our lives since first meeting each other.


	19. NINETEEN

DPOV

"I believe it's my turn to read," Jill stated in response to Eddie's question. Rose threw the book to Eddie, who was sitting next to Jill. The guardian graduate caught the book and handed it over to Jill.

Rose snuggled into my side while the middle school graduate, I'd learned that through Roza, started.

" _It's hard to say what finally made me do it_."

The room was silent. Rose sent Lissa a gentle and warm smile. One the Princess returned. Roza relaxed a little more.

" _I stayed in the clinic while Dimitri went to get Alberta. He hadn't hesitated for a second when I told him where she was. I'd said she was in danger, and he'd left immediately._ " Jill continued.

I'd done my duty. But I had done it without all my head and heart being in it. What hurt Lissa hurt Rose, and I couldn't stand my Roza hurting. If Lissa had been in danger, so was my Rose. I couldn't stand the thought of Rose in danger. Ironic, considering I had trained her to defend others in danger. It had to be that way, no matter how much I wanted to teach her for the sake of defending herself. Even then I'd wished she'd never have to use that knowledge and skill, that I'd always be there to protect her.

 _"I explained my revelation about the accident and how all of her powers and depression had started after that. I also pointed out how our bond had formed after the accident too, though I didn't fully understand why yet_."

The room sat in silence while Jill continued reading. Finishing the fight that had happened. Then the fallout of it being overheard by a sophomore.

" _Just like that, whatever social headway I'd made plummeted. She didn't outright condemn me, but her silence spoke legions, and people behaved accordingly._ "

That had been a time when she'd needed all my support. Both professionally and personally. And she'd hardly gotten any.

Jill kept reading. Through yet another altercation with Mia. Mia and Rose exchanged looks and a shrug. They truly were a weird case, but Mia was now another of Rose's friends and I wanted her to have as many true friends as possible, no matter how much I wanted for her to be mine alone. The group remained silent, but now the air was filled with anticipation and excitement. Jill had just started reading the lead up to the dance. And therefore also the lust charm.

"... _Then we ran into Dimitri and Alberta._

" _They were on their way somewhere else, talking guardian business_."

"Altering my shifts," I whispered suggestively in my fiancé's ear.

" _Alberta smiled when she saw us, giving us the kind of indulgent look older people always give to younger people who appear to be having fun and acting silly. Like she thought we were cute. The nerve_."

"You were cute. But I had a feeling you wanted to be doing that with the man who's now your fiancé." The older woman grinned. "I was trying to imagine the guy who was standing next to me standing next to you, acting just like that. When I managed it I knew you two were meant to be together. You two are cuter."

" _We stumbled to a halt, and Mason put a hand on my arm to steady me_." Jill continued when directed.

"... _Normally I would have elbowed him for saying something so stupid, but I was staring at Dimitri and incapable of speech. Perhaps more importantly, he was staring at me too._

" _I had on the black dress, and it was everything I'd hoped it could be. In fact, it was a wonder Alberta didn't call me on the dress code then and there._ "

"I could see how you two were reacting to each other. I'd never seen such a look on Dimitri's face and in his eyes. Yours too." She turned to Jill, "continue."

" _The fabric clung everywhere, and no Moroi girl's chest could have held this dress up. Victor's rose necklace hung around my neck, and I'd done a hasty blow-dry of my hair, leaving it down the way I knew Dimitri liked it_...

"... _He just looked at me- and looked and looked. Maybe that said something about my appearance in and of itself. Remembering how Mason sort of held my hand, I pulled away from him. He and Alberta finished up their joking remarks, and we all went our separate ways._ "

"I saw that pull away, too. I wonder if Mason saw that." Alberta was the first to comment. Abe looked as though he wanted to explode and interrogate me. Thankfully Janine kept him in check.

"He never suspected anything," my fiancé responded, keeping her emotions in check even though I knew she had to still be struggling. A few of the others laughed at how Roza had dressed to impress. Impress me that is.

" _Music blasted inside the commons when we arrived, white Christmas lights and-ugh-a disco ball casting the only light in the otherwise darkened room._ "

Jill quoted Rose's description once said Rose had told her to keep reading. A few snarky comments were made about her remarkable writing ability and the image she'd managed to create. The young girl kept reading. Covering the social hierarchy that occurs at a dance. Then Mason's surprise for Rose regarding Jesse and Ralf. I didn't doubt he'd done it not just to try impressing my woman, but mainly because he wanted protect her seeing as he had loved her.

" _Jesse didn't say anything, and Mason repeated the gesture, only harder._

" _"Tell her."_

" _Not meeting my eyes, Jesse mumbled, "Rose, we know none of that stuff happened."_

" _I almost choked on my own laughter. "_ _ **Do**_ _you? I'm really glad to hear that. Because you see, until you said that, I'd been thinking it_ _ **had**_ _happened. Thank God you guys are here to set me straight and tell me what the hell I have or haven't done!_ "

The room broke out into laughter. Mia and Rose shared a knowing and almost cunning look before breaking out into hysterics again. With a "keep reading, Jill!" from Mia, she returned to the task. Silence fell over the group again. Soon revealing why Rose and Mia had shared the look they had.

" _Jesse looked up and exchanged uneasy looks with Ralf._

" _"Boys," warned Mason, clearly delighted about something, "you're making Hathaway and me very angry. Tell her why you did it."_

" _Wearing the look of one who realised things couldn't get any worse, Jesse finally met my eyes. "We did it because she slept with us. Both of us."_ " Jill finished with a, "and that's not an awkward cliffhanger."

Christian couldn't agree more and made a snarky, agreeing comment. I couldn't help but feel as though the next chapter would involve the charm. Dread at my fiancé's parents reaction spread through me. But I no longer regretted taking Rose to bed and almost taking her under that charm. I hadn't regretted it for a long while-since just after Spokane.

Rose pulled me from my thoughts, then pulled me out of the room.

"The next chapter's got the charm in it," my Roza confirmed my suspicions once we'd entered our room, promptly locking the door.

"I guessed," a playful, amused and shameless look was being worn openly on my face.

"You don't care they're finding out? You don't regret that? You don't even feel the tiniest bit guilty?" she was disbelieving and amused. It showed plain as day. I laughed and grinned.

"No. Not at all. Not. At. All. My love. Being with you is right, it's always been right, no matter what laws and society says."

I leant in and kissed the only woman I'd ever love. The only woman I'd ever make love to. We couldn't help it. We didn't want to. And we didn't have a scrap of control left when we started this kind of contact. We made love for the first time as an engaged couple.

With a regretful sigh we disentangled. We didn't want to get dressed and return to the reading room. But we made ourselves. Making sure to take our time, regularly pausing to kiss and almost undoing the work we'd done in returning another clothing item to our body. Succeeding at regressing a number of times... That occurred more often than not.

"I'm reading next," declared my lover once we reentered the room.

"Okay then," sighed an exhausted Jill. Who was sitting closer still to Eddie. Murmurs of agreement went around the group as Rose and I sat on the love-seat. Eddie took the book from the coffee table and tossed it at my fiancé. Naturally, she looked like a goddess as she effortlessly caught the item.


	20. TWENTY

RPOV

I opened the book to chapter twenty. And so it began. I wasn't ashamed for falling victim to the charm and taking a guilty pleasure in stealing that heated make out session with the man who was simply meant to be my mentor... According to society. By reading this chapter, much like reading the shopping trip one, I was professing my guilty and damning actions but admitting I no longer gave a shit about what others thought. They were going to learn we'd done worse, much worse, while still supposedly mentor and student. I was engaged to him now and there's nothing anyone can say or do to change my mind because I'm irrevocably in love with and completely addicted to Dimitri Belikov.

" _My mouth dropped open_." I started and silence fell.

Mia cut me a cheeky look I returned. No animosity was left between us whatsoever; we easily laughed at our childish and stupid behaviours towards the other. We'd both changed since Spokane.

" _"Uh... wait... you mean_ _ **sex**_ _?"_ "

"What did you think they meant!" laughed a smirking Mia.

"Hey!" I retorted. Not at all liking the insinuation.

"Were you seriously that innocent?" came Christian's snarky response. One Eddie seconded.

"Yes, she was still that innocent," answered Dimitri.

"Ew!" the room chorused at the hidden message.

Dimitri and I just ginned at each other before shrugging our shoulders. We held the other's innocence and virtue; whilst understanding the significance of such a thing, we found the group's reaction a little over the top and melodramatic. When were they going to realise we never really saw ourselves as society had, as student and teacher?

"Again, ew! This is the girl who was meant to be your student." The others looked thoroughly repulsed. Dimitri and I didn't care anymore that we'd thrown away those roles before getting comfortable in them.

"Oh, be quiet and let a girl read!" I snapped playfully. They shushed.

"Woman, Roza, woman" Dimitri corrected in my ear. I couldn't help but shiver.

" _My astonishment prevented me from thinking of a better response. Mason thought it was hysterical._ " So had everyone in this room. " _Jesse looked like he wanted to die_."

I kept reading. Managing to cover the rest of that interaction. Without interruption. The same with between the end of that interaction through to the Mia altercation. Even then did no one comment. All of us wanted to get out of here and have an early night.

" _Heedless of the dress, I flounced onto the floor of my room, crossing my legs underneath me. I reached out to Lissa. She was calmer now_."

I kept reading through to when the charm started. Still uninterrupted except for the odd gasp.

" _Something forced me out of her head, and I frowned, staring around my room. I needed to go back to her and find out what had happened. Usually the connection just faded or I closed it off, but this-this was like something had actually removed me and pulled me. Pulled me back here_."

Murmurs went around the room. Speculation, wonder, curiosity. Those reasons for chatter soon turned into reasons for silence.

" _But that made no sense. What could pull me back from... wait._

" _My mind blanked_." Gasps echoed in the room.

" _I couldn't remember what I'd just been thinking about. It was gone. Like static in my brain. Where had I been? With Lissa? What about Lissa?_ "

Intrigue was the main thing showing on everyone's face. Some were trying to puzzle it out. Lissa and Dimitri wore a knowing look. As did Alberta and Abe, but those two's looks were more reflective of someone who'd just had suspicions confirmed.

" _Standing up, I wrapped my arms around myself_ ," Dimitri scooted closer and wrapped his arms around my waist. Mmmm, amazing, " _confused, trying to figure out what was going on. Lissa. Something with Lissa_.

" _ **Dimitri**_ _, a voice inside my head suddenly said._ _ **Go to Dimitri**_ _._

" _Yes. Dimitri. My body and spirit burned for him all of a sudden, and I wanted to be with him more than I ever had before_."

Suspicious and curious looks were on the faces of those who didn't know. Abe had guessed that what was about to happen was physical and sent Dimitri a glare. Especially considering one of my lover's hands had fallen to my thigh and his thumb was stroking it. Dimitri ignored my father's look, we were engaged after all. There was nothing in the world that was going to make Dimitri regret this moment again, clearly.

" _I couldn't stay away from him_." I turned to my fiancé and whispered in his ear, "still can't and am never going to." Returning to the book before anymore trouble stirred. " _He'd know what to do. And he'd told me I should come to him if something was wrong with Lissa. Too bad I couldn't remember what that was. Still. I knew he'd take care of everything_."

"I always will, my love. I can't and won't live without you. Your happiness and safety is paramount to me," Dimitri whispered in my ear. Everyone else was on the edge of their seats, wanting to know what happened. Interested and invested in the story. Lissa was having a hard time holding back hysterics. Ever since returning from Russia, she'd always thought it was hilarious that Victor had used her as an excuse to bring out the animalistic and romantic connection between the two who were meant to be her guardians. She'd felt bad about also being the reason we'd stayed apart, but she'd come to accept it.

" _Getting up to the staff wing of the dorm wasn't hard_ ," Alberta laughed at that, " _since they wanted to keep me inside tonight. I didn't know where his room was, but it didn't matter._ _ **Something**_ _was pulling me to him, urging me closer. An instinct pushed me toward one of the doors, and I beat the living day lights out of it_."

Silence filled the room as I read.

" _After a few moments, he opened it, brown eyes widening when he saw me._

" _"Rose?"_

" _"Let me in. It's Lissa."_

" _He immediately stepped aside for me. I'd apparently caught him in bed, because the covers were peeled back on one side and only a small tableside lamp shone in the darkness. Plus, he wore only cotton pajama bottoms; his chest-which I'd never seen before, and wow, did it look great-was bare_."

I was having trouble reading this with a straight face, despite having the ability to perfect a blank and indifferent mask. I wasn't embarrassed by my thoughts, it's just that they were meant to be kept private. Poor, innocent Jill was beginning to blush. She'd once commented on Dimitri's hotness, and now was likely thinking that sort of thing about Eddie. I swear those two will be an item when we eventually walk out of here.

" _The ends of his dark hair curled near his chin and appeared damp, like he'd taken a shower not too long ago._

" _"What's wrong?"_

" _The sound of his voice thrilled me, and I couldn't answer. I couldn't stop staring at him. The force that had pulled me up here pulled me to him. I wanted him to touch me so badly, so badly I could barely stand it_."

Now my mother scowled. And joined Abe at glaring at Dimitri. A few of the group were wearing calculating looks as they glanced between us, trying to figure out what was about to happen and trying to wrap their heads around their suspicions that The straight-laced, professional and moral then Guardian Dimitri Belikov had gotten intimate with The reckless then novice Rose Hathaway. Not an easy concept to grasp when he had such a high quality and respectable reputation.

" _He was so amazing. So unbelievably gorgeous. I knew something was wrong, but it didn't seem important. Not when I was with him._

" _With almost a foot separating us, there was no way I could easily kiss his lips without his help_."

Cue the gasps. And an amused and intrigued look on Dimitri's face. He was clearly happy to know what exactly had gone through my head.

" _So instead, I aimed for his chest, wanting to taste that warm smooth skin._ "

The silence in the room was so heavy it was almost palpable.

" _"Rose!" he exclaimed, stepping back_."

"Sorry about that, love," my Comrade whispered.

" _"What are you doing?"_

" _"What do you think?"_

" _I moved towards him again, needing to touch him and kiss him and do so many other things_."

A range of looks was on everyone's faces. Alberta's and a few others, such as Eddie and Adrian, were amused. Some were disapproving. But, regardless, everyone remained silent and allowed me to keep reading.

" _"Are you drunk?" he asked, holding his hand out in a warding gesture._

" _"Don't I wish." I tried to dodge around him, then paused, momentarily uncertain. "I thought you wanted to-don't you think I'm pretty?" In all the time this attraction had built, he'd never told me I was pretty. He'd hinted at it, but that wasn't the same_."

A range of expressions crossed my parents faces. Alberta and Lissa remained amused. Others simply looked as though they wanted to know what had happened. Dimitri's sisters looked as though they were hiding their unease at hearing of their brother's illicit, illegal love life with his legendary student.

" _And despite all the assurances I had from other guys that I was hotness incarnate, I needed to hear it from the one guy I actually wanted_."

"You're beauty and hotness incarnate, Roza," Dimitri murmured against my cheek. Soon after, pressing a light kiss to my cheek.

"God. I love you, Comrade." I kissed his cheek before returning to reading.

"" _Rose, I don't know what's going on, but you need to go back to your room."_

" _When I moved toward him again, he reached out and gripped my wrists. With that touch, an electric current shot through both of us and I saw him forget whatever he'd just been worrying about. Something seized him too, something that made him suddenly want me as much as I wanted him_."

Once again, Dimitri received glares from my parents. And again, he ignored them.

" _Releasing my wrists, he moved his hands up my arms, sliding slowly along my skin. Holding me in his dark, hungry gaze, he pulled me to him, pressing me right up to his body_."

Everyone was silent. Bursting with anticipation. It was damn palpable as I kept reading.

" _One of his hands moved up the back of my neck, twining his fingers in my hair and tipping my face up to his. He brought his lips down, barely brushing them against mine._

" _Swallowing hard, I asked again, "Do you think I'm pretty?"_

" _He regarded me with utter seriousness, like he always did. "I think you're beautiful."_

" _"Beautiful?"_

" _"You are so beautiful, it hurts me sometimes."_

" _His lips moved to mine, gentle at first, and then hard and hungry. His kiss consumed me_."

I turned to whisper in my lover's ear, "it still does. It always will."

"Ew! Keep reading, Rose!" Abe demanded. Then winced as he realised he'd probably be hearing worse than he was currently seeing.

" _His hands on my arms slid down, down my hips, down to the edge of my dress. He gathered up the fabric in his hands and began pushing it up my legs._ "

Meanwhile, Dimitri was lovingly stroking the length of one thigh. His other hand was under my shirt, playing with back of my bra without unhooking it, then sliding down to below the belt-line of my skinny jeans. His lips were taking possession of my neck, jaw and collar.

"Dimitri!" I growled playfully but warningly in his ear. "Save them the show, you tease!" He actually pouted and pulled puppy dog eyes. I caved. Pecking his lips before pulling back to return to reading and finishing the chapter.

"Who's being the tease now!" my man playfully retorted.

"Guys! Read, Rose!" Eddie instructed.

" _I melted into that touch, into his kiss and the way it burned against my mouth. His hands kept sliding up and up, until he'd pulled the dress over my head and tossed it on the floor_."

Dimitri ignored the hardening glares from Abe and Mom. He really did feel guiltless and shameless. So did I, to be brutally honest, I felt completely guiltless and shameless. Why should I feel sorry for falling in love and finding my soulmate?

" _"You... you got rid of that dress fast," I pointed out between heavy breaths. "I thought you liked it."_

" _"I do like it," he said. His breathing was as heavy as mine. "I love it."_ "

And here comes the dramatic finish. Which is going to result in an interrogation for Dimitri.

" _And then he took me to the bed_."

As I expected, Abe and Mom turned purple.

"Belikov!" exploded my parents in unison.

"Don't jump to conclusions!" I growled at my parents in defence of Dimitri. And our actions.

"Rosemarie!" They turned their anger on me.

I threw my hands up in exasperation. "If you expect us to apologise, you're going to be extremely and sorely disappointed." My eyes narrowed and I stared them down, jaw and mouth set in a hard line. "Worse things have happened. If you want to know what did and didn't go on then we have to keep reading."

"Dinner first," Eddie interrupted any retort my parents were going to make. The situation deflated thanks to the topic change.

We all agreed to leftovers. No matter how boringly repetitive, it was the most simple and quickest solution. There were four microwaves, and, depending on serving size, each meal would only take a minute or two to heat. Fast, efficient, filling. Thanks Mama for thinking ahead.

It was also an easy to clean up meal. Over the past three days we'd easily done fifteen, closer to twenty, loads of dishes. With eighteen to cater for we accumulated plenty of dirty dishes just from what we used to eat on and with. Add to that the pots and pans and what not used to cook the meals, and yeah, a lot of dish washing had to be done. It was extremely lucky to have four dishwashers. And six people willing to pull others weight so there wasn't too much traffic in the kitchen at any one time. No matter how spacious, it could still get an overcrowded feeling.


	21. TWENTY-ONE

**Almost there! Thanks for your continued support—it is very much appreciated :) I hope you won't be too mad when I complete this one! x I've started on Reading VA: Reading Frostbite, but as we all know, the books get more emotionally challenging as the series continues and now I'm suffering from writer's block with the second Reading VA story. Once Reading Frostbite is almost complete, I will start posting it up here :) For now, enjoy the last few chapters of Reading VA: Reading Vampire Academy :) x**

DPOV

Dinner didn't take too long. Neither did Sonya putting Nadia down for the night. Karo also made Zoya go to bed. Paul as well much to the ten year old's disappointment.

"Who's reading next?" asked Roza.

"I will," I spoke. Meanwhile, I collected the book from its spot on the heavy, oak coffee table. I had trouble keeping a straight face at the revelation contained within the first sentence.

"I'd never been completely naked around a guy before."

Astonished looks came from the St Vladimir's lot and Roza's parents. Rumours, reputations, gossips are all the ways a person can be falsely portrayed and Rose had done a good job of hiding her true nature. Clearly and evidently.

"It scared the hell out of me-even though it excited me, too. Lying on the covers, we clung to each other and kept kissing-and kissing and kissing and kissing."

Abe and Janine were trying very hard to kept control. They were struggling at hiding the disapproving glare and scowl they wanted to send my way. My sisters evidently and understandably didn't want to know about my romantic history.

"His hands and lips took possession of my body, and every touch was like fire on my skin.

"After yearning for him for so long, I could barely believe this was happening."

Neither could those listening other than Lissa and Roza. But the others didn't really like what had gone down. I didn't care what they thought as I kept reading. Covering the kills and peace conversation. The beginning of realising we'd been under a charm was also covered without interruption and me ignoring the looks I was receiving that wasn't my Roza's loving one.

"He frowned, no longer turned on."

I turned to Rose and whispered so only she'd hear. "Who says I wasn't still turned on? Believe me, I still wanted and needed you." I pecked her lips and traced the necklace before returning to reading.

Weird looks went around the group when we'd figured out it was a charm. The widest ranges of emotions showed on my parent-in-laws faces. Relief we hadn't gone all the way, but concern that the charm had the stimulus to work on. Resignation at the fact it was in the past and unchangeable. And, from everyone, recognition and confusion at the realisation Rose was wearing the same necklace that had flown out the window.

"I knew Roza adored and valued it, how expensive it was. So, I found it before our next training and hid it until I could have it repaired. It was meant to be her graduation gift when I returned it to her," I explained.

With that matter settled, intrigue took hold of the group. They now wanted to know why it had occurred as well as who'd done it and why. So, I returned to reading and let the book enlighten them. Shock showed clearly on the faces of those who didn't know what had happened.

Pain, anger, anguish and betrayal were showing plain as day on Lissa and Roza's faces. They had to be reliving it once again as I read through what had occurred, the pain and torture Lissa had been subjected to, and therefore also Rose thanks to the bond.

Gasps and conversation broke out when the culprit was revealed. Shock, disgust and disappointment were the strongest and most evident emotions. They were also the driving force of musings and discussions.

Understanding also showed and echoed clearly in voices. That was when the others connected most of the dots regarding the mutterings that had occurred earlier in this exercise. It also became a talking point. Then did the compassion.

Lissa, Christian, Roza and I didn't join in. We'd all been too affected personally by that to want to talk about it. We didn't even want to pay attention to the rest of the group. Instead, in our couples, we focused on, and on supporting, our partner. We got distracted, passing the time with a hot and heavy make-out session.

It took long enough for the others to quieten. My moment with Rose and Lissa's with Christian was ended by being pried apart. Eddie pulled me off my Roza. While Adrian pulled Christian off Lissa.

"Read, Belikov!" instructed Janine.

"We? I recalled how the stories had resurfaced this week... from Natalie."

That brought about more gasps. More gasps, shock, conversation. And pain. Lissa and Roza had to be hating this, my Roza especially because she had to feel Lissa's trauma alongside her own.

""Now?" He sighed, spreading his hands wide in a helpless gesture." I continued when I was told to by Abe. ""I don't know. I doubt anyone will connect it to us, even if they don't believe you ran away. Rose is the biggest liability. We'd intended to... dispatch her, letting others think she'd run away as well. The spectacle she created at your dance made that impossible, but I had another plan in place to make sure she stays occupied for some time... probably until tomorrow. We will have to contend with her later.""

The group was silent. Wanting to know how this ended, wanting to know the why, wanting to understand the pain Lissa and Rose were radiating.

"He hadn't counted on Dimitri figuring out the spell. He'd figured we'd be too busy getting it on all night." Snickers broke out at the use of the crude yet not, by today's standards, term and slang for sex.

""Why?" asked Lissa. "Why are you doing all this?"

"His green eyes widened, reminding her of her father's. They might be distant relatives, but that jade-green color ran in both the Dragomirs and the Dashkovs. "I'm surprised you even have to ask, my dear. I need you. I need you to heal me.""

I let my silence and shutting the book act as my note that that was the end of that chapter. Roza snuggled into my side, as Lissa did to Christian. We took our women into our arms while a sober silence engulfed the room.

"Enough. That's enough for today," Roza spoke. "Dimitri, we're for bed." My fiancé's look was final. I had no say, and right now, I didn't care that she was dictating. She'd had enough and truly wanted some real sleep in order to face the last few, most traumatic, chapters tomorrow. And she clearly wanted me sleeping right beside her in order to bring her some peace.

"Of course, my love." I stood and pulled my soulmate from the love-seat, she gathered the still-wrapped VS supposed to be for her birthday gift then snuggled into my side. Clearly seeking comfort and reassurance, safety and refuge. I couldn't fathom how I was after all I'd done to her, but I'd be whatever she wanted and needed.

We bade goodnight and exited. Soon followed by Lissa and Christian. No words were needed for us all to understand we were doing the same thing. Escaping for the night. Escaping to the supporting embrace of our other half's embrace while sleeping. In the innocent sense. Sorta. Sharing a bed and sleeping entangled in another's embrace was never going to be totally innocent. But you get the point.


	22. TWENTY-TWO

RPOV

I awoke to Dimitri gazing at me adoringly, hands gently and reverently studying my pj-clad body.

"Morning fiancé," he smiled his full and radiant one.

"Mmm. Morning, Comrade," I mumbled happily against his lips. "Now," I pulled back without having first kissed him.

"You. Tease!" he growled playfully.

"I know," I smirked. "Now, as I was saying, it's not at all freaky to wake to someone staring at you."

"But you're so beautiful when you sleep, you look so peaceful," lovingly said Dimitri.

"I guess that's acceptable. Stay right here," I suggestively purred before rolling out of bed.

Time for playful torture. I hadn't yet opened his gift that was meant to be for his birthday. That didn't mean I couldn't guess at what was inside. And my guess was something naughty, something scant. Maybe more than one something.

So, I grabbed the gift and headed to the bathroom. Upon opening, I found four very scanty and revealing one-piece sets of lingerie. Oh, he hadn't intended to last past my birthday, clearly.

What he'd bought me was a red satiny-topped, very revealing, see-through cotton from under the bust to just meeting the top of the thighs piece. The same thing in black. A simple, shiny, black, same length and spaghetti-strapped item the same length and just as revealing as the other two pieces. It was practically a lingerie version of that dress I wore to the dance. I bet that had been intentional. The last item was a red version of the dance dress reminiscent piece.

Yeah, he'd decided he'd be throwing away our roles on my birthday, that he'd give me him. Had it not happened in the cabin when it had.

I decided to wear the dance reminiscent one. Quickly switching into the black, reveal-all lingerie item before returning to Dimitri. Bed hair or not, I still looked so sexy my fiancé was going to lose it in milliseconds. And it was all his own doing.

I sauntered out the bathroom door. Dimitri's eyes bugged as he roamed my body with those dark with lust, brown eyes. "It's all your own doing," I teased and slowly stepped closer to the bed. And my hungry lover therein the sheets.

"Y-you like them?" he asked between heavy breaths. Echoing me under the charm.

"I love them. Do you?"

I was being an absolute tease, I still had a ways to go before I reached the bed. Flaunting it with every step, giving him a good look.

"Rose Hathaway!" he growled. "You are being a tease! And yes, I love it."

"Self inflicted, cowboy. Self. Inflicted."

"Roza!" he groaned before burying his head in pillows of our bed. I was just barely at the end of the bed now and he'd returned his eyes to me.

"You asked for it, Comrade," I purred as I crawled onto the bed. Crawling up, over his body. "You should have known better."

"Rose. Love," he pleaded as I straddled him. I was hyper aware of what exactly I was doing to him.

"Ung-Unh!" I trailed one finger down his bare, chiseled chest. "You bought it," I breathed with my fiancé's hands exploring my back, ass and thighs. "Now wear the consequences."

"Roza! I can barely keep in control when you're bundled in winter clothes and nothing's on show!" he whined lustfully.

"All. Your. Own. Fault. Dimitri." I finally brushed my lips over his. Pulling back from it before he could deepen it.

"Tease!" Dimitri groaned.

"This is what you get for being so damn compulsion resistant."

"Of course. Of course this is payback. I'm stuck here for a while, clearly."

"Yup!" I flipped us and pulled off his sleep shorts. "The roles are being reversed." I flipped us back. "If you're a cowboy, I'm the sherif!"

I'd barely had my way with my fiancé before a knock sounded on the door. Being lazy, we pulled the sheets up then called, "Enter!" In walked my mother.

"You're late for breakfast," she informed us. Trying to look everywhere but at us. "Do I want to know?" She met our eyes.

I smirked at Dimitri. He groaned and hid in the crook of my of my neck.

"Trialling out one of my birthday presents. And making the person responsible pay."

"Roza!" whined Dimitri. "You're mother does not need to know that."

"Get dressed and get to breakfast lovebirds!" awkwardly ordered my mother. Promptly turning on her heel, heading for the hills. Not that she was allowed to get past the doorway to the lobby. Helpfully, she'd shut the door after her.

We hurriedly dressed. And weaponised. I know Dimitri isn't supposed to carry a weapon, but I can't leave him defenceless. Not when I had more stakes than I did holders.

We were met with knowing and amused looks upon entering. Breakfast was the same as yesterday. Not surprising given how many people there was to feed.

"Who's reading chapter twenty-two?" I asked once another two loads of dishes were on.

I knew already from the bond that Lissa was determined to read through the next chapter. So, I'd asked for the sake of others.

"Me."

Lissa bravely spoke. Although her pain and trauma sang to me loud and clear. That being said, I could also feel her resolve to face revealing what had happened. Just like Rose and Dimitri with the last two chapters, I heard her reassure and comfort herself.

" _"_ _ **Heal**_ _you?"_ " she started and a respectful silence fell.

" _ **Heal**_ _**him**_? _My thoughts echoed hers_.

" _"You're the only way," he said patiently. "The only way to cure this disease. I've been watching you for years, waiting until I was certain."_ "

Her voice didn't waver no matter how painful the assaulting memories were. Her resolve was stronger than her healing ability.

" _Lissa shook her head. "I can't... no. I can't do anything like that."_

" _"Your healing powers are incredible. No one has any idea just how powerful."_ "

The group remained silent as she continued reading through Dashkov revealing I'd died. My parents looked on the verge of tears. Dimitri let a single tear escape. I had no doubt he was imagining-and failing to because it was too painful-a life without me. About never meeting me. Compassionate looks were shot my way. I shook them off. I didn't need any of that.

I turned Dimitri's face to look me in the eye as Liss continued. His pain took precedent right now. I cupped his face in my hands, gently wiping away two more escaped tears. My hands snaked into his loose hair. Twining his hair in my fingers, I pulled his face to mine, his lips to mine.

"I love you," I breathed into his mouth when we paused to breathe.

"I love you," he returned. My fiancé started the kiss this time.

The world didn't exist right now. It never did in these moments with him, my Dimitri. He seriously has no clue in the world what he does to me. I swear.

Laughter brought us out of our own world and time zone. A scan of Lissa's immediate memories told me they were enjoying another 'perfect Princess dishing out some Rose Hathaway attitude' moment. I crawled onto Dimitri's lap before my best friend and bond mate continued reading.

Lissa covered the rest of the explanation of Spirit. Uninterrupted. The same silence held while she continued on to cover the argument that had occurred and Victor's vindictive passion over becoming king to return to the old ways of fighting and protecting. And how he valued his life over hers.

" _His words triggered something inside of Lissa, a sudden consideration for the state of the Moroi. She'd never contemplated what he'd said, about how different it might be if Moroi and their guardians fought side by side to rid the world of Strigoi and their evil._ "

Compulsion. Likely. Or basic psychology. Or both. Brainwashing backed up with a trickle of compulsion to make her think about and consider his words and the idea proposed. Lissa and I considered this realisation at the same time.

She kept reading and the silence continued. Disgusted and horrified then sympathetic looks crossed the other's faces. Disgust and horror over Victor's actions, torturing Lissa. Sympathy over the trauma she must have, and did, sustain.

"... _After enduring all that firsthand-and it was bad enough secondhand-I felt pretty confident I would have done anything they wanted._

 _"And finally, she did."_ Intrigue crossed the group's faces, wondering how the magic would be described.

" _Hurting and bleary-eyed, Lissa took Victor's hands. I'd never been in her head when she worked magic and didn't know what to expect."_ Nor did all others in the room bar Adrian _. "At first, I felt nothing. Just a sense of concentration. Then... it was like... I don't even know how to describe it. Color and light and music and life and joy and love... so many wonderful things, all the lovely things that make up the world and make it worth living in_."

The now awed silence blanketed the room. The others became even more engrossed as she continued.

"... _When the group seemed ready to disperse, I started to get out of the car. Dimitri stopped me._

" _"No, Roza. You stay here."_ "

A round of "aww" escaped the group. All bar my still resentful parents.

" _"To hell with that. I have to go help her."_

" _He cupped my chin with his hands, fixing me with his eyes. "You have helped her. Your job is done. You did it well. But this isn't the place for you. She and I both need you to stay safe."_ "

Another set of "aww"s met that.

Lissa continued reading. Smirks and snarky comments met the introduction of the stowaway. AKA Christian.

Understanding suddenly dawned on Lissa and me how Christian knew about me and Dimitri. He'd seen the earlier moment and the power and affection. He'd seen Dimitri's worry for me and had years of hiding and developing his powers of hiding and perceiving.

She continued reading what had happened... uninterrupted.

"... _I had to find her. Seeing Christian's face, I couldn't resist giving him a dry smile. "And yeah, I know. You're going with me."_ "

"That's how you knew? Isn't it? You realised back then, didn't you?" I asked of Christian immediately.

"Yeah. That's when I knew about you two. Every interaction between you in that ride was far too personal."

"And you didn't tell me my friend was hiding something?!" Lissa exploded. "You knew and didn't tell?! Why?!" She was worked up and there was nothing I could do because this wasn't darkness exacerbated.

"Because it was clear she wasn't going to tell you. I understood the risk they were taking, what they were putting on the line, and was going to respect that. I knew I had to protect them in order to protect you. You couldn't hear because the risk of someone who would tell overhearing was far too great." That managed to diffuse her.


End file.
